diff --git a/fish_pager.cpp b/fish_pager.cpp
index 4f9c8223d..c05ae749c 100644
--- a/fish_pager.cpp
+++ b/fish_pager.cpp
@@ -221,7 +221,7 @@ static int get_color( int highlight )
 		return FISH_COLOR_NORMAL;
 	}
 	
-	return output_color_code( val );	
+	return output_color_code( val, false );	
 }
 
 /**
diff --git a/highlight.cpp b/highlight.cpp
index edd977a40..af8b7c9fd 100644
--- a/highlight.cpp
+++ b/highlight.cpp
@@ -48,7 +48,7 @@ static void highlight_universal_internal( const wchar_t * buff,
 /**
    The environment variables used to specify the color of different tokens.
 */
-static const wchar_t *highlight_var[] = 
+static const wchar_t * const highlight_var[] = 
 {
 	L"fish_color_normal",
 	L"fish_color_error",
@@ -62,9 +62,9 @@ static const wchar_t *highlight_var[] =
 	L"fish_color_escape",
 	L"fish_color_quote",
 	L"fish_color_redirection",
-	L"fish_color_valid_path"
-}
-	;
+	L"fish_color_valid_path",
+    L"fish_color_autosuggestion"
+};
 
 /**
    Tests if the specified string is the prefix of any valid path in the system. 
@@ -170,7 +170,7 @@ static bool is_potential_path( const wcstring &cpath )
 
 
 
-int highlight_get_color( int highlight )
+int highlight_get_color( int highlight, bool is_background )
 {
 	size_t i;
 	int idx=0;
@@ -178,10 +178,9 @@ int highlight_get_color( int highlight )
 
 	if( highlight < 0 )
 		return FISH_COLOR_NORMAL;
-	if( highlight >= (1<<VAR_COUNT) )
+	if( highlight > (1<<VAR_COUNT) )
 		return FISH_COLOR_NORMAL;
-
-	for( i=0; i<(VAR_COUNT-1); i++ )
+	for( i=0; i<VAR_COUNT; i++ )
 	{
 		if( highlight & (1<<i ))
 		{
@@ -189,7 +188,7 @@ int highlight_get_color( int highlight )
 			break;
 		}
 	}
-		
+    
 	env_var_t val_wstr = env_get_string( highlight_var[idx]); 
 
 //	debug( 1, L"%d -> %d -> %ls", highlight, idx, val );	
@@ -198,14 +197,14 @@ int highlight_get_color( int highlight )
 		val_wstr = env_get_string( highlight_var[0]);
 	
 	if( ! val_wstr.missing() )
-		result = output_color_code( val_wstr.c_str() );
+		result = output_color_code( val_wstr, is_background );
 	
 	if( highlight & HIGHLIGHT_VALID_PATH )
 	{
 		env_var_t val2_wstr =  env_get_string( L"fish_color_valid_path" );
 		const wchar_t *val2 = val2_wstr.missing() ? NULL : val2_wstr.c_str(); 
 
-		int result2 = output_color_code( val2 );
+		int result2 = output_color_code( val2, is_background );
 		if( result == FISH_COLOR_NORMAL )
 			result = result2;
 		else 
diff --git a/highlight.h b/highlight.h
index f7ec88770..d6ca36b67 100644
--- a/highlight.h
+++ b/highlight.h
@@ -63,6 +63,11 @@
 */
 #define HIGHLIGHT_VALID_PATH 0x1000
 
+/**
+   Internal value representing highlighting an autosuggestion
+*/
+#define HIGHLIGHT_AUTOSUGGESTION 0x2000
+
 /**
    Perform syntax highlighting for the shell commands in buff. The result is
    stored in the color array as a color_code from the HIGHLIGHT_ enum
@@ -97,6 +102,6 @@ void highlight_universal( const wchar_t *buff, int *color, int pos, array_list_t
    call to highlight_get_color( HIGHLIGHT_ERROR) will return
    FISH_COLOR_RED.
 */
-int highlight_get_color( int highlight );
+int highlight_get_color( int highlight, bool is_background );
 
 #endif
diff --git a/output.cpp b/output.cpp
index b46cd2b1a..32d4fe133 100644
--- a/output.cpp
+++ b/output.cpp
@@ -149,7 +149,9 @@ int (*output_get_writer())(char)
 
 void set_color( int c, int c2 )
 {
-	static int last_color = FISH_COLOR_NORMAL;
+    ASSERT_IS_MAIN_THREAD();
+    
+    static int last_color = FISH_COLOR_NORMAL;
 	static int last_color2 = FISH_COLOR_NORMAL;
 	static int was_bold=0;
 	static int was_underline=0;
@@ -546,37 +548,47 @@ int write_escaped_str( const wchar_t *str, int max_len )
 }
 
 
-int output_color_code( const wchar_t *val )
-{
+int output_color_code( const wcstring &val, bool is_background ) {
 	size_t i;
     int color=FISH_COLOR_NORMAL;
 	int is_bold=0;
 	int is_underline=0;
 	
-	if( !val )
+	if (val.empty())
 		return FISH_COLOR_NORMAL;
 	
     wcstring_list_t el;
 	tokenize_variable_array2( val, el );
 	
-	for(size_t j=0; j < el.size(); j++ )
-	{
-        const wchar_t *next = el.at(j).c_str();
-		
-		is_bold |= (wcsncmp( next, L"--bold", wcslen(next) ) == 0 ) && wcslen(next)>=3;
-		is_bold |= wcscmp( next, L"-o" ) == 0;
-
-		is_underline |= (wcsncmp( next, L"--underline", wcslen(next) ) == 0 ) && wcslen(next)>=3;
-		is_underline |= wcscmp( next, L"-u" ) == 0;
-
-		for( i=0; i<COLORS; i++ )
-		{
-			if( wcscasecmp( col[i], next ) == 0 )
-			{
-				color = col_idx[i];
-				break;
-			}
-		}
+	for(size_t j=0; j < el.size(); j++ ) {
+        const wcstring &next = el.at(j);
+        wcstring color_name;
+        if (is_background) {
+            // look for something like "--background=red"
+            const wcstring prefix = L"--background=";
+            if (string_prefixes_string(prefix, next)) {
+                color_name = wcstring(next, prefix.size());
+            }
+            
+        } else {
+            if (next == L"--bold" || next == L"-o")
+                is_bold = true;
+            else if (next == L"--underline" || next == L"-u")
+                is_underline = true;
+            else
+                color_name = next;
+        }
+        
+        if (! color_name.empty()) {
+            for( i=0; i<COLORS; i++ )
+            {
+                if( wcscasecmp( col[i], color_name.c_str() ) == 0 )
+                {
+                    color = col_idx[i];
+                    break;
+                }
+            }
+        }
 		
 	}
 	
diff --git a/output.h b/output.h
index 896e40fea..6ef3869a0 100644
--- a/output.h
+++ b/output.h
@@ -128,7 +128,7 @@ int write_escaped_str( const wchar_t *str, int max_len );
 /**
    Return the internal color code representing the specified color
 */
-int output_color_code( const wchar_t *val );
+int output_color_code( const wcstring &val, bool is_background );
 
 /**
    This is for writing process notification messages. Has to write to
diff --git a/reader.cpp b/reader.cpp
index 382b75a22..617f1543f 100644
--- a/reader.cpp
+++ b/reader.cpp
@@ -3012,6 +3012,9 @@ const wchar_t *reader_readline()
 			*/
 			case R_EXECUTE:
 			{
+                /* Delete any autosuggestion */
+                data->autosuggestion.clear();
+                
 				/*
 				  Allow backslash-escaped newlines
 				*/
diff --git a/screen.cpp b/screen.cpp
index 9e785d510..e74d4e8be 100644
--- a/screen.cpp
+++ b/screen.cpp
@@ -529,8 +529,9 @@ static void s_set_color( screen_t *s, buffer_t *b, int c )
 	output_set_writer( &s_writeb );
 	s_writeb_buffer = b;
 	
-	set_color( highlight_get_color( c & 0xffff ),
-		   highlight_get_color( (c>>16)&0xffff ) );
+    unsigned int uc = (unsigned int)c;
+	set_color( highlight_get_color( uc & 0xffff, false ),
+		   highlight_get_color( (uc>>16)&0xffff, true ) );
 	
 	output_set_writer( writer_old );
 	
diff --git a/share/functions/__fish_config_interactive.fish b/share/functions/__fish_config_interactive.fish
index 7ec8215ed..3c243ee51 100644
--- a/share/functions/__fish_config_interactive.fish
+++ b/share/functions/__fish_config_interactive.fish
@@ -113,7 +113,7 @@ function __fish_config_interactive -d "Initializations that should be performed
 		set_default fish_color_match cyan
 
 		# Background color for search matches
-		set_default fish_color_search_match purple
+		set_default fish_color_search_match --background=purple
 
 		# Pager colors
 		set_default fish_pager_color_prefix cyan