diff --git a/youtube_dl/jsinterp.py b/youtube_dl/jsinterp.py
index a8df4aef0..35d2c0096 100644
--- a/youtube_dl/jsinterp.py
+++ b/youtube_dl/jsinterp.py
@@ -8,6 +8,10 @@ from .utils import (
     ExtractorError,
 )
 
+__DECIMAL_RE = r'([1-9][0-9]*)|0'
+__OCTAL_RE = r'0+[0-7]+'
+__HEXADECIMAL_RE = r'(0[xX])[0-9a-fA-F]+'
+
 _OPERATORS = [
     ('|', operator.or_),
     ('^', operator.xor),
@@ -18,13 +22,59 @@ _OPERATORS = [
     ('+', operator.add),
     ('%', operator.mod),
     ('/', operator.truediv),
-    ('*', operator.mul),
+    ('*', operator.mul)
 ]
 _ASSIGN_OPERATORS = [(op + '=', opfunc) for op, opfunc in _OPERATORS]
 _ASSIGN_OPERATORS.append(('=', lambda cur, right: right))
 
+_RESERVED_RE = r'(function|var|return)\s'
+
+_OPERATORS_RE = r'|'.join(re.escape(op) for op, opfunc in _OPERATORS)
+_ASSIGN_OPERATORS_RE = r'|'.join(re.escape(op) for op, opfunc in _ASSIGN_OPERATORS)
+
 _NAME_RE = r'[a-zA-Z_$][a-zA-Z_$0-9]*'
 
+# can't use raw string, starts with " and end with '
+_STRING_RE = '''"(?:[^"\\\\]*(?:\\\\\\\\|\\\\[\'"nurtbfx/\\n]))*[^"\\\\]*"|
+                \'(?:[^\'\\\\]*(?:\\\\\\\\|\\\\[\'"nurtbfx/\\n]))*[^\'\\\\]*\''''
+
+_INTEGER_RE = r'%(hex)s|%(dec)s|%(oct)s' % {'hex': __HEXADECIMAL_RE, 'dec': __DECIMAL_RE, 'oct': __OCTAL_RE}
+_FLOAT_RE = r'%(dec)s\.%(dec)s' % {'dec': __DECIMAL_RE}
+
+_BOOL_RE = r'true|false'
+_REGEX_RE = r'/[^/]*/'  # TODO make validation work
+
+_LITERAL_RE = r'(%(int)s|%(float)s|%(str)s|%(bool)s|%(regex)s)' % {
+    'int': _INTEGER_RE,
+    'float': _FLOAT_RE,
+    'str': _STRING_RE,
+    'bool': _BOOL_RE,
+    'regex': _REGEX_RE
+}
+_ARRAY_RE = r'\[(%(literal)s\s*,\s*)*(%(literal)s\s*)?\]' % {'literal': _LITERAL_RE}  # TODO nested array
+
+_VALUE_RE = r'(%(literal)s)|(%(array)s)' % {'literal': _LITERAL_RE, 'array': _ARRAY_RE}
+_CALL_RE = r'%(name)s\s*\((%(val)s\s*,\s*)*(%(val)s\s*)?\)' % {'name': _NAME_RE, 'val': _VALUE_RE}
+_PARENTHESES_RE = r'(?P<popen>\()|(?P<pclose>\))|(?P<iopen>\[)|(?P<iclose>\])'
+_EXP_RE = r'''(?P<id>%(name)s)|(?P<val>%(val)s)|(?P<op>%(op)s)|%(par)s''' % {
+    'name': _NAME_RE,
+    'val': _VALUE_RE,
+    'op': _OPERATORS_RE,
+    'par': _PARENTHESES_RE
+}  # TODO validate expression (it's probably recursive!)
+_ARRAY_ELEMENT_RE = r'%(name)s\s*\[\s*(%(index)s)\s*\]' % {'name': _NAME_RE, 'index': _EXP_RE}
+
+token = re.compile(r'''(?x)\s*
+    ((?P<rsv>%(rsv)s)|(?P<call>%(call)s)|(?P<field>\.%(name)s)|
+    (?P<assign>%(aop)s)|(%(exp)s)|
+    (?P<end>;))\s*''' % {
+    'rsv': _RESERVED_RE,
+    'call': _CALL_RE,
+    'name': _NAME_RE,
+    'aop': _ASSIGN_OPERATORS_RE,
+    'exp': _EXP_RE
+})
+
 
 class JSInterpreter(object):
     def __init__(self, code, objects=None):
@@ -34,6 +84,41 @@ class JSInterpreter(object):
         self._functions = {}
         self._objects = objects
 
+    @staticmethod
+    def _next_statement(code, pos=0):
+        stmt = ''
+        while pos < len(code):
+            feed_m = token.match(code[pos:])
+            if feed_m:
+                for token_id, token_value in feed_m.groupdict().items():
+                    if token_value is not None:
+                        pos += feed_m.end()
+                        if token_id == 'end':
+                            yield stmt
+                            stmt = ''
+                        else:
+                            if token_id == 'rsv':
+                                pass
+                            if token_id == 'call':
+                                pass
+                            if token_id == 'field':
+                                pass
+                            if token_id == 'id':
+                                pass
+                            if token_id == 'val':
+                                pass
+                            if token_id == 'popen':
+                                pass
+                            if token_id == 'pclose':
+                                pass
+                            if token_id == 'op':
+                                pass
+                            if token_id == 'assign':
+                                pass
+                            stmt += token_value
+            else:
+                raise NotImplemented("Possibly I've missed something")
+
     def interpret_statement(self, stmt, local_vars, allow_recursion=100):
         if allow_recursion < 0:
             raise ExtractorError('Recursion limit reached')
@@ -250,7 +335,7 @@ class JSInterpreter(object):
     def build_function(self, argnames, code):
         def resf(args):
             local_vars = dict(zip(argnames, args))
-            for stmt in code.split(';'):
+            for stmt in self._next_statement(code):
                 res, abort = self.interpret_statement(stmt, local_vars)
                 if abort:
                     break