diff --git a/MANIFEST b/MANIFEST
index 930d640..28232b4 100644
--- a/MANIFEST
+++ b/MANIFEST
@@ -4154,6 +4154,7 @@ t/op/gv.t			See if typeglobs work
 t/op/hashassign.t		See if hash assignments work
 t/op/hash.t			See if the complexity attackers are repelled
 t/op/hashwarn.t			See if warnings for bad hash assignments work
+t/op/heredoc.t			See if heredoc edge and corner cases work
 t/op/inccode.t			See if coderefs work in @INC
 t/op/inccode-tie.t		See if tie to @INC works
 t/op/incfilter.t		See if the source filters in coderef-in-@INC work
diff --git a/pod/perlop.pod b/pod/perlop.pod
index e677430..0895509 100644
--- a/pod/perlop.pod
+++ b/pod/perlop.pod
@@ -1750,6 +1750,9 @@ This is the only form of quoting in perl where there is no need
 to worry about escaping content, something that code generators
 can and do make good use of.
 
+A bare terminator prefixed with a backslash also triggers this
+quoting mode.
+
 =item Backticks
 
 The content of the here doc is treated just as it would be if the
@@ -1802,8 +1805,8 @@ you'll need to remove leading whitespace from each line manually:
        down from the door where it began.
     FINIS
 
-If you use a here-doc within a delimited construct, such as in C<s///eg>,
-the quoted material must come on the lines following the final delimiter.
+When using a here-doc within a delimited construct, such as in C<s///eg>,
+the quoted material starts on the line following the final delimiter.
 So instead of
 
     s/this/<<E . 'that'
@@ -1818,10 +1821,6 @@ you have to write
     the other
     E
 
-If the terminating identifier is on the last line of the program, you
-must be sure there is a newline after it; otherwise, Perl will give the
-warning B<Can't find string terminator "END" anywhere before EOF...>.
-
 Additionally, the quoting rules for the end of string identifier are not
 related to Perl's quoting rules -- C<q()>, C<qq()>, and the like are not
 supported in place of C<''> and C<"">, and the only interpolation is for
diff --git a/t/lib/warnings/toke b/t/lib/warnings/toke
index e5ca400..2360042 100644
--- a/t/lib/warnings/toke
+++ b/t/lib/warnings/toke
@@ -141,14 +141,14 @@ Use of comma-less variable list is deprecated at - line 5.
 Use of comma-less variable list is deprecated at - line 5.
 ########
 # toke.c
-use warnings 'deprecated' ;
+use warnings 'syntax' ;
 $a = <<;
 
-no warnings 'deprecated' ;
+no warnings 'syntax' ;
 $a = <<;
 
 EXPECT
-Use of bare << to mean <<"" is deprecated at - line 3.
+bare << meaning <<"" may be confusing at - line 3.
 ########
 # toke.c
 use warnings 'syntax' ;
diff --git a/t/op/heredoc.t b/t/op/heredoc.t
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..607b19f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/t/op/heredoc.t
@@ -0,0 +1,83 @@
+# tests for heredocs besides what is tested in base/lex.t
+
+BEGIN {
+   chdir 't' if -d 't';
+   @INC = '../lib';
+   require './test.pl';
+}
+
+use strict;
+plan(tests => 8);
+
+
+# heredoc without newline (#65838)
+{
+    my $string = <<'HEREDOC';
+testing for 65838
+HEREDOC
+
+    my $code = "<<'HEREDOC';\n${string}HEREDOC";  # HD w/o newline, in eval-string
+    my $hd = eval $code or warn "$@ ---";
+    is($hd, $string, "no terminating newline in string-eval");
+}
+
+
+# here-doc edge cases
+{
+    my $string = "testing for 65838";
+
+    fresh_perl_is(
+        "print <<'HEREDOC';\n${string}\nHEREDOC",
+        $string,
+        {},
+        "heredoc at EOF without trailing newline"
+    );
+
+    fresh_perl_is(
+        "print <<;\n$string\n",
+        $string,
+        {},
+        "blank-terminated heredoc at EOF"
+    );
+}
+
+
+# here-doc parse failures
+{
+    fresh_perl_like(
+        "print <<HEREDOC;\nwibble\n HEREDOC",
+        qr/find string terminator/,
+        {},
+        "string terminator must start at newline"
+    );
+
+    fresh_perl_like(
+        "print <<;\nno more newlines",
+        qr/find string terminator/,
+        {},
+        "empty string terminator still needs a newline"
+    );
+
+    fresh_perl_like(
+        "print <<ThisTerminatorIsLongerThanTheData;\nno more newlines",
+        qr/find string terminator/,
+        {},
+        "long terminator fails correctly"
+    );
+}
+
+# allow whitespace before the termstring
+is( << 'WITH', <<'WITHOUT', "allow SPACE_OR_TAB before quoted terminator");
+test
+WITH
+test
+WITHOUT
+
+eval <<\SYNTAX or fail( "allow SPACE_OR_TAB before terminator");
+is( << WITH, <<WITHOUT, "allow SPACE_OR_TAB before terminator");
+test
+WITH
+test
+WITHOUT
+1;
+SYNTAX
diff --git a/t/test.pl b/t/test.pl
index 32c4a37..e96d2c7 100644
--- a/t/test.pl
+++ b/t/test.pl
@@ -660,8 +660,8 @@ sub _fresh_perl {
     my($prog, $resolve, $runperl_args, $name) = @_;
 
     $runperl_args ||= {};
-    $runperl_args->{progfile} = $tmpfile;
-    $runperl_args->{stderr} = 1;
+    $runperl_args->{progfile} ||= $tmpfile;
+    $runperl_args->{stderr}     = 1 unless exists $runperl_args->{stderr};
 
     open TEST, ">$tmpfile" or die "Cannot open $tmpfile: $!";
 
@@ -698,12 +698,6 @@ sub _fresh_perl {
     }
 
     my $pass = $resolve->($results);
-    unless ($pass) {
-        _diag "# PROG: \n$prog\n";
-        _diag "# EXPECTED:\n", $resolve->(), "\n";
-        _diag "# GOT:\n$results\n";
-        _diag "# STATUS: $status\n";
-    }
 
     # Use the first line of the program as a name if none was given
     unless( $name ) {
@@ -712,6 +706,15 @@ sub _fresh_perl {
     }
 
     _ok($pass, _where(), "fresh_perl - $name");
+
+    unless ($pass) {
+        _diag "# PROG: \n$prog\n";
+        _diag "# EXPECTED:\n", $resolve->(), "\n";
+        _diag "# GOT:\n$results\n";
+        _diag "# STATUS: $status\n";
+    }
+
+    return $pass;
 }
 
 #
diff --git a/toke.c b/toke.c
index a15dca6..5cccb61 100644
--- a/toke.c
+++ b/toke.c
@@ -11281,12 +11281,16 @@ S_scan_heredoc(pTHX_ register char *s)
 	    s++;
     }
     else {
+        if (*peek == '\\' || isALNUM_lazy_if(peek,UTF))
+            s = peek;
 	if (*s == '\\')
+            /* <<\FOO is equivalent to <<'FOO' */
 	    s++, term = '\'';
 	else
 	    term = '"';
-	if (!isALNUM_lazy_if(s,UTF))
-	    deprecate_old("bare << to mean <<\"\"");
+	if (!isALNUM_lazy_if(s,UTF) && ckWARN(WARN_SYNTAX))
+	    Perl_warner(aTHX_ packWARN(WARN_SYNTAX),
+                        "bare << meaning <<\"\" may be confusing");
 	for (; isALNUM_lazy_if(s,UTF); s++) {
 	    if (d < e)
 		*d++ = *s;
@@ -11448,8 +11452,30 @@ S_scan_heredoc(pTHX_ register char *s)
 #endif
 	if (!outer ||
 	 !(PL_oldoldbufptr = PL_oldbufptr = s = PL_linestart = filter_gets(PL_linestr, PL_rsfp, 0))) {
-	    CopLINE_set(PL_curcop, (line_t)PL_multi_start);
-	    missingterm(PL_tokenbuf);
+            I32 len_without;
+            /* in other words, we are out of input */
+            /* maybe the string terminator didn't have a newline? */
+            sv_catpvn(tmpstr,"\n",1); /* add a newline */
+            len_without = SvCUR(tmpstr) - len;
+            s = SvPVX(tmpstr) + len_without;
+            if (   len_without > -1  /* there has been enough data */
+                && *(s-1) == '\n' /* the terminator starts at line-begin */
+                && *s == term /* the terminator starts correctly */
+                && memEQ(s,PL_tokenbuf,len) /* and checks out okay */
+               )
+            {
+                /* chop the quoted heredoc at the right place */
+                SvCUR_set(tmpstr,len_without);
+                /* pretend we got the string terminator from filter_gets */
+                sv_setpvn(PL_linestr,s,len);
+                PL_oldoldbufptr = PL_oldbufptr = s = PL_linestart = SvPVX(PL_linestr);;
+            }
+            else
+            {
+                /* No, we have reached EOF without finding the terminator. */
+	        CopLINE_set(PL_curcop, (line_t)PL_multi_start);
+	        missingterm(PL_tokenbuf);
+            }
 	}
 #ifdef PERL_MAD
 	stuffstart = s - SvPVX(PL_linestr);