diff --git a/dir.c b/dir.c
index 174d336c30..9ea6cfe61c 100644
--- a/dir.c
+++ b/dir.c
@@ -1294,7 +1294,7 @@ int match_pathname(const char *pathname, int pathlen,
 		 * then our prefix match is all we need; we
 		 * do not need to call fnmatch at all.
 		 */
-		if (!patternlen && (!namelen || (flags & PATTERN_FLAG_MUSTBEDIR)))
+		if (!patternlen && !namelen)
 			return 1;
 	}
 
diff --git a/t/t0008-ignores.sh b/t/t0008-ignores.sh
index a594b4aa7d..46a5038fed 100755
--- a/t/t0008-ignores.sh
+++ b/t/t0008-ignores.sh
@@ -802,6 +802,32 @@ test_expect_success 'existing directory and file' '
 	grep top-level-dir actual
 '
 
+test_expect_success 'exact prefix matching (with root)' '
+	test_when_finished rm -r a &&
+	mkdir -p a/git a/git-foo &&
+	touch a/git/foo a/git-foo/bar &&
+	echo /git/ >a/.gitignore &&
+	git check-ignore a/git a/git/foo a/git-foo a/git-foo/bar >actual &&
+	cat >expect <<-\EOF &&
+	a/git
+	a/git/foo
+	EOF
+	test_cmp expect actual
+'
+
+test_expect_success 'exact prefix matching (without root)' '
+	test_when_finished rm -r a &&
+	mkdir -p a/git a/git-foo &&
+	touch a/git/foo a/git-foo/bar &&
+	echo git/ >a/.gitignore &&
+	git check-ignore a/git a/git/foo a/git-foo a/git-foo/bar >actual &&
+	cat >expect <<-\EOF &&
+	a/git
+	a/git/foo
+	EOF
+	test_cmp expect actual
+'
+
 ############################################################################
 #
 # test whitespace handling