diff --git a/index.js b/index.js
index 847d8e0..54c838e 100644
--- a/index.js
+++ b/index.js
@@ -1,13 +1,8 @@
 'use strict';
 
-module.exports = function attributes(md) {
+var utils = require('./utils.js');
 
-  // not tab, line feed, form feed, space, solidus, greater than sign, quotation mark, apostrophe and equals sign
-  var allowedKeyChars = /[^\t\n\f \/>"'=]/;
-  var pairSeparator = ' ';
-  var keySeparator = '=';
-  var classChar = '.';
-  var idChar = '#';
+module.exports = function attributes(md) {
 
   function curlyAttrs(state){
     var l = state.tokens.length;
@@ -18,9 +13,10 @@ module.exports = function attributes(md) {
       }
 
       var inlineTokens = tokens[i].children;
-      if (inlineTokens.length <= 0) {
+      if (!inlineTokens || inlineTokens.length <= 0) {
         continue;
       }
+
       var end = inlineTokens.length - 1;
       var content = inlineTokens[end].content;
 
@@ -36,72 +32,17 @@ module.exports = function attributes(md) {
         continue;
       }
 
-      var key = '';
-      var value = '';
-      var parsingKey = true;
-      var valueInsideQuotes = false;
-
-      // read inside {}, excluding {, including }
-      for (var ii = curlyStart + 1; ii < content.length; ii++) {
-        var char = content.charAt(ii);
-
-        // switch to reading value if equal sign
-        if (char === keySeparator) {
-          parsingKey = false;
-          continue;
-        }
-
-        // {.class}
-        if (char === classChar && key === '') {
-          key = 'class';
-          parsingKey = false;
-          continue;
-        }
-
-        // {#id}
-        if (char === idChar && key === '') {
-          key = 'id';
-          parsingKey = false;
-          continue;
-        }
-
-        // {value="inside quotes"}
-        if (char === '"' && value === '') {
-          valueInsideQuotes = true;
-          continue;
-        }
-        if (char === '"' && valueInsideQuotes) {
-          valueInsideQuotes = false;
-          continue;
-        }
-
-        // read next key/value pair
-        if ((char === pairSeparator && !valueInsideQuotes) ||
-            char === '}') {
-          if (key === 'class' &&
-              tokens[i - 1].attrIndex(key) !== -1) {
-            var classIdx = tokens[i - 1].attrIndex(key);
-            tokens[i - 1].attrs[classIdx][1] += ' ' + value;
-          } else {
-            tokens[i - 1].attrPush([key, value]);
-          }
-          key = '';
-          value = '';
-          parsingKey = true;
-          continue;
-        }
-
-        // continue if character not allowed
-        if (parsingKey && char.search(allowedKeyChars) === -1) {
-          continue;
-        }
-
-        // no other conditions met; append to key/value
-        if (parsingKey) {
-          key += char;
-          continue;
+      // read inside {}
+      var attrs = utils.getAttrs(content, curlyStart + 1, content.length - 1);
+      for (var j=0, l=attrs.length; j<l; ++j) {
+        var key = attrs[j][0];
+        if (key === 'class' && tokens[i - 1].attrIndex(key) !== -1) {
+          // append space seperated text string
+          var classIdx = tokens[i - 1].attrIndex(key);
+          tokens[i - 1].attrs[classIdx][1] += ' ' + attrs[j][1];
+        } else {
+          tokens[i - 1].attrPush(attrs[j]);
         }
-        value += char;
       }
 
       inlineTokens[end].content = content.slice(0, curlyStart).trim();