diff --git a/base/pcre.jl b/base/pcre.jl
index 39a9e8da693f6..edf4530cb52de 100644
--- a/base/pcre.jl
+++ b/base/pcre.jl
@@ -140,4 +140,23 @@ function substring_number_from_name(re, name)
         (Ptr{Void}, Cstring), re, name)
 end
 
+function capture_names(re)
+    name_count = info(re, INFO_NAMECOUNT, UInt32)
+    name_entry_size = info(re, INFO_NAMEENTRYSIZE, UInt32)
+    nametable_ptr = info(re, INFO_NAMETABLE, Ptr{UInt8})
+    names = Dict{Int, ASCIIString}()
+    for i=1:name_count
+        offset = (i-1)*name_entry_size + 1
+        # The capture group index corresponding to name 'i' is stored as a
+        # big-endian 16-bit value.
+        high_byte = UInt16(unsafe_load(nametable_ptr, offset))
+        low_byte = UInt16(unsafe_load(nametable_ptr, offset+1))
+        idx = (high_byte << 8) | low_byte
+        # The capture group name is a null-terminated string located directly
+        # after the index.
+        names[idx] = bytestring(nametable_ptr+offset+1)
+    end
+    names
+end
+
 end # module
diff --git a/base/regex.jl b/base/regex.jl
index e0762d868fc53..2699c563ec349 100644
--- a/base/regex.jl
+++ b/base/regex.jl
@@ -16,7 +16,6 @@ type Regex
     ovec::Vector{Csize_t}
     match_data::Ptr{Void}
 
-
     function Regex(pattern::AbstractString, compile_options::Integer,
                    match_options::Integer)
         pattern = bytestring(pattern)
@@ -92,15 +91,20 @@ immutable RegexMatch
     captures::Vector{Union{Void,SubString{UTF8String}}}
     offset::Int
     offsets::Vector{Int}
+    regex::Regex
 end
 
 function show(io::IO, m::RegexMatch)
     print(io, "RegexMatch(")
     show(io, m.match)
+    idx_to_capture_name = PCRE.capture_names(m.regex.regex)
     if !isempty(m.captures)
         print(io, ", ")
         for i = 1:length(m.captures)
-            print(io, i, "=")
+            # If the capture group is named, show the name.
+            # Otherwise show its index.
+            capture_name = get(idx_to_capture_name, i, i)
+            print(io, capture_name, "=")
             show(io, m.captures[i])
             if i < length(m.captures)
                 print(io, ", ")
@@ -110,6 +114,15 @@ function show(io::IO, m::RegexMatch)
     print(io, ")")
 end
 
+# Capture group extraction
+getindex(m::RegexMatch, idx::Integer) = m.captures[idx]
+function getindex(m::RegexMatch, name::Symbol)
+    idx = PCRE.substring_number_from_name(m.regex.regex, name)
+    idx <= 0 && error("no capture group named $name found in regex")
+    m[idx]
+end
+getindex(m::RegexMatch, name::AbstractString) = m[Symbol(name)]
+
 function ismatch(r::Regex, s::AbstractString, offset::Integer=0)
     compile(r)
     return PCRE.exec(r.regex, bytestring(s), offset, r.match_options,
@@ -136,7 +149,7 @@ function match(re::Regex, str::UTF8String, idx::Integer, add_opts::UInt32=UInt32
     cap = Union{Void,SubString{UTF8String}}[
             ovec[2i+1] == PCRE.UNSET ? nothing : SubString(str, ovec[2i+1]+1, ovec[2i+2]) for i=1:n ]
     off = Int[ ovec[2i+1]+1 for i=1:n ]
-    RegexMatch(mat, cap, ovec[1]+1, off)
+    RegexMatch(mat, cap, ovec[1]+1, off, re)
 end
 
 match(re::Regex, str::Union{ByteString,SubString}, idx::Integer, add_opts::UInt32=UInt32(0)) =
diff --git a/doc/manual/strings.rst b/doc/manual/strings.rst
index 91085005aee8c..b51eef87b0352 100644
--- a/doc/manual/strings.rst
+++ b/doc/manual/strings.rst
@@ -697,6 +697,16 @@ use destructuring syntax to bind them to local variables::
     julia> first, second, third = m.captures; first
     "a"
 
+Captures can also be accessed by indexing the :obj:`RegexMatch` object
+with the number or name of the capture group::
+
+    julia> m=match(r"(?P<hour>\d+):(?P<minute>\d+)","12:45")
+    RegexMatch("12:45", hour="12", minute="45")
+    julia> m[:minute]
+    "45"
+    julia> m[2]
+    "45"
+
 You can modify the behavior of regular expressions by some combination
 of the flags ``i``, ``m``, ``s``, and ``x`` after the closing double
 quote mark. These flags have the same meaning as they do in Perl, as
diff --git a/test/regex.jl b/test/regex.jl
index 938abd8df70c6..aaf8eafa72a39 100644
--- a/test/regex.jl
+++ b/test/regex.jl
@@ -37,3 +37,8 @@ show(buf, r"")
 # regex match / search string must be a ByteString
 @test_throws ArgumentError match(r"test", utf32("this is a test"))
 @test_throws ArgumentError search(utf32("this is a test"), r"test")
+
+# Named subpatterns
+m = match(r"(?<a>.)(.)(?<b>.)", "xyz")
+@test (m[:a], m[2], m["b"]) == ("x", "y", "z")
+@test sprint(show, m) == "RegexMatch(\"xyz\", a=\"x\", 2=\"y\", b=\"z\")"