diff --git a/ChangeLog b/ChangeLog
index 82534de641cf36e29fde0e297463f0f45d5e1719..e9d92f476cc85d322b6b430edb8e5171d40cd969 100644
--- a/ChangeLog
+++ b/ChangeLog
@@ -32,7 +32,9 @@ CVS code -
 	- Convert nano to use the new parse_num() function to read in
 	  numeric values at the command line and in the rcfile, and
 	  duplicate the messages used in the rcfile in the command line
-	  for consistency. (David Benbennick)  DLR: Convert tabsize,
+	  for consistency. (David Benbennick)  DLR: Tweak parse_num() to
+	  parse ssize_t values instead of ints and to return a bool
+	  indicating whether parsing succeeded.  Convert tabsize,
 	  wrap_at, and fill to ssize_t in order to work with
 	  parse_num() properly and also to increase their capacity
 	  while keeping the ability to hold negative numbers in case of
diff --git a/src/nano.c b/src/nano.c
index e7ae45b99b0f7ac6780ff2a45d28674c98c7c022..3bdf2d290c05fd1f6ef940a351786d1e9ea159e2 100644
--- a/src/nano.c
+++ b/src/nano.c
@@ -3154,7 +3154,7 @@ int main(int argc, char *argv[])
 	    break;
 #endif
 	case 'T':
-	    if (parse_num(optarg, &tabsize) == -1 || tabsize <= 0) {
+	    if (!parse_num(optarg, &tabsize) || tabsize <= 0) {
 		fprintf(stderr, _("Requested tab size %s invalid\n"), optarg);
 		exit(1);
 	    }
@@ -3202,7 +3202,7 @@ int main(int argc, char *argv[])
 	    break;
 #ifndef DISABLE_WRAPJUSTIFY
 	case 'r':
-	    if (parse_num(optarg, &wrap_at) == -1) {
+	    if (!parse_num(optarg, &wrap_at)) {
 		fprintf(stderr, _("Requested fill size %s invalid\n"), optarg);
 		exit(1);
 	    }
diff --git a/src/proto.h b/src/proto.h
index 9fa4d361f28decd7cbd0d1d5e87b1592277ee9a2..7af1c071138afb1267ed0730446f884a81933049 100644
--- a/src/proto.h
+++ b/src/proto.h
@@ -402,7 +402,7 @@ char *replace_line(const char *needle);
 int do_replace_loop(const char *needle, const filestruct *real_current,
 	size_t *real_current_x, int wholewords);
 void do_replace(void);
-void do_gotoline(int line, int save_pos);
+void do_gotoline(int line, bool save_pos);
 void do_gotoline_void(void);
 #if defined (ENABLE_MULTIBUFFER) || !defined (DISABLE_SPELLER)
 void do_gotopos(int line, int pos_x, int pos_y, size_t pos_pww);
@@ -437,7 +437,7 @@ int is_blank_char(int c);
 #endif
 int is_cntrl_char(int c);
 int num_of_digits(int n);
-int parse_num(const char *str, ssize_t *val);
+bool parse_num(const char *str, ssize_t *val);
 void align(char **strp);
 void null_at(char **data, size_t index);
 void unsunder(char *str, size_t true_len);
diff --git a/src/rcfile.c b/src/rcfile.c
index 728a9a5a2b57c397b6828938a04776a157c8c056..69e5f8bc2cc3759c8fbb1e41bf261856dcf8b829 100644
--- a/src/rcfile.c
+++ b/src/rcfile.c
@@ -561,7 +561,7 @@ void parse_rcfile(FILE *rcstream)
 #endif
 #ifndef DISABLE_WRAPJUSTIFY
 			    if (strcasecmp(rcopts[i].name, "fill") == 0) {
-				if (parse_num(option, &wrap_at) == -1) {
+				if (!parse_num(option, &wrap_at)) {
 				    rcfile_error(N_("Requested fill size %s invalid\n"), option);
 				    wrap_at = -CHARS_FROM_EOL;
 				}
@@ -609,7 +609,7 @@ void parse_rcfile(FILE *rcstream)
 			    else
 #endif
 			    if (strcasecmp(rcopts[i].name, "tabsize") == 0) {
-				if (parse_num(option, &tabsize) == -1 || tabsize <= 0)
+				if (!parse_num(option, &tabsize) || tabsize <= 0)
 				    rcfile_error(N_("Requested tab size %s invalid\n"), option);
 				    tabsize = -1;
 			    }
diff --git a/src/search.c b/src/search.c
index fc4a78209e0cf7a0e381e529f03184d84cd0b1e7..d69d747a05584d49407cfbeb5c53a1680c1bc710 100644
--- a/src/search.c
+++ b/src/search.c
@@ -240,7 +240,7 @@ int search_init(int replacing)
 #endif
 	   /* If answer parses as an integer, put it up on the
 	    * statusbar. */
-	    do_gotoline(parse_num(answer, NULL), FALSE);
+	    do_gotoline(parse_num(answer, NULL) ? -1 : 0, FALSE);
 	    /* Fall through. */
 	default:
 	    return -1;
@@ -835,7 +835,7 @@ void do_replace(void)
     replace_abort();
 }
 
-void do_gotoline(int line, int save_pos)
+void do_gotoline(int line, bool save_pos)
 {
     if (line <= 0) {		/* Ask for it. */
 	char *ans = mallocstrcpy(NULL, answer);
@@ -856,7 +856,7 @@ void do_gotoline(int line, int save_pos)
 	}
 
 	/* Bounds check. */
-	if (parse_num(answer, &line) == -1 || line < 0) {
+	if (!parse_num(answer, &line) || line < 0) {
 	    statusbar(_("Come on, be reasonable"));
 	    display_main_list();
 	    return;
diff --git a/src/utils.c b/src/utils.c
index 39b08b903bf35ee612b516a799eb9580f1b39ff4..92e70b9cfd8c48483cc3f799d97893fdfd81e980 100644
--- a/src/utils.c
+++ b/src/utils.c
@@ -85,8 +85,9 @@ int num_of_digits(int n)
 }
 
 /* Read an int from str, and store it in *val (if val is not NULL).  On
- * error, we return -1 and don't change *val. */
-int parse_num(const char *str, ssize_t *val)
+ * error, we return FALSE and don't change *val.  Otherwise, we return 
+ * TRUE. */
+bool parse_num(const char *str, ssize_t *val)
 {
     char *first_error;
     ssize_t j;
@@ -94,10 +95,10 @@ int parse_num(const char *str, ssize_t *val)
     assert(str != NULL);
     j = (ssize_t)strtol(str, &first_error, 10);
     if (errno == ERANGE || *str == '\0' || *first_error != '\0')
-	return -1;
+	return FALSE;
     if (val != NULL)
 	*val = j;
-    return 0;
+    return TRUE;
 }
 
 /* Fix the memory allocation for a string. */