diff --git a/diff.c b/diff.c
index 92e247fb83..e162d59eae 100644
--- a/diff.c
+++ b/diff.c
@@ -4602,7 +4602,8 @@ void diff_setup_done(struct diff_options *options)
 	 * inside contents.
 	 */
 
-	if ((options->xdl_opts & XDF_WHITESPACE_FLAGS))
+	if ((options->xdl_opts & XDF_WHITESPACE_FLAGS) ||
+	    options->ignore_regex_nr)
 		options->flags.diff_from_contents = 1;
 	else
 		options->flags.diff_from_contents = 0;
diff --git a/t/t4015-diff-whitespace.sh b/t/t4015-diff-whitespace.sh
index 88d3026894..8ae02fe3c3 100755
--- a/t/t4015-diff-whitespace.sh
+++ b/t/t4015-diff-whitespace.sh
@@ -567,6 +567,30 @@ test_expect_success '--check and --quiet are not exclusive' '
 	git diff --check --quiet
 '
 
+test_expect_success '-w and --exit-code interact sensibly' '
+	test_when_finished "git checkout x" &&
+	{
+		test_seq 15 &&
+		echo " 16"
+	} >x &&
+	test_must_fail git diff --exit-code &&
+	git diff -w >actual &&
+	test_must_be_empty actual &&
+	git diff -w --exit-code
+'
+
+test_expect_success '-I and --exit-code interact sensibly' '
+	test_when_finished "git checkout x" &&
+	{
+		test_seq 15 &&
+		echo " 16"
+	} >x &&
+	test_must_fail git diff --exit-code &&
+	git diff -I. >actual &&
+	test_must_be_empty actual &&
+	git diff -I. --exit-code
+'
+
 test_expect_success 'check staged with no whitespace errors' '
 	echo "foo();" >x &&
 	git add x &&