diff --git a/ctype.c b/ctype.c
index d2bd38e901..9208d674db 100644
--- a/ctype.c
+++ b/ctype.c
@@ -9,18 +9,20 @@
 #undef SS
 #undef AA
 #undef DD
+#undef GS
 
 #define SS GIT_SPACE
 #define AA GIT_ALPHA
 #define DD GIT_DIGIT
+#define GS GIT_SPECIAL  /* \0, *, ?, [, \\ */
 
 unsigned char sane_ctype[256] = {
-	 0,  0,  0,  0,  0,  0,  0,  0,  0, SS, SS,  0,  0, SS,  0,  0,		/* 0-15 */
+	GS,  0,  0,  0,  0,  0,  0,  0,  0, SS, SS,  0,  0, SS,  0,  0,		/* 0-15 */
 	 0,  0,  0,  0,  0,  0,  0,  0,  0,  0,  0,  0,  0,  0,  0,  0,		/* 16-15 */
-	SS,  0,  0,  0,  0,  0,  0,  0,  0,  0,  0,  0,  0,  0,  0,  0,		/* 32-15 */
-	DD, DD, DD, DD, DD, DD, DD, DD, DD, DD,  0,  0,  0,  0,  0,  0,		/* 48-15 */
+	SS,  0,  0,  0,  0,  0,  0,  0,  0,  0, GS,  0,  0,  0,  0,  0,		/* 32-15 */
+	DD, DD, DD, DD, DD, DD, DD, DD, DD, DD,  0,  0,  0,  0,  0, GS,		/* 48-15 */
 	 0, AA, AA, AA, AA, AA, AA, AA, AA, AA, AA, AA, AA, AA, AA, AA,		/* 64-15 */
-	AA, AA, AA, AA, AA, AA, AA, AA, AA, AA, AA,  0,  0,  0,  0,  0,		/* 80-15 */
+	AA, AA, AA, AA, AA, AA, AA, AA, AA, AA, AA, GS, GS,  0,  0,  0,		/* 80-15 */
 	 0, AA, AA, AA, AA, AA, AA, AA, AA, AA, AA, AA, AA, AA, AA, AA,		/* 96-15 */
 	AA, AA, AA, AA, AA, AA, AA, AA, AA, AA, AA,  0,  0,  0,  0,  0,		/* 112-15 */
 	/* Nothing in the 128.. range */
diff --git a/dir.c b/dir.c
index 92452eb5ef..acf1001c4f 100644
--- a/dir.c
+++ b/dir.c
@@ -52,11 +52,6 @@ int common_prefix(const char **pathspec)
 	return prefix;
 }
 
-static inline int special_char(unsigned char c1)
-{
-	return !c1 || c1 == '*' || c1 == '[' || c1 == '?' || c1 == '\\';
-}
-
 /*
  * Does 'match' matches the given name?
  * A match is found if
@@ -80,7 +75,7 @@ static int match_one(const char *match, const char *name, int namelen)
 	for (;;) {
 		unsigned char c1 = *match;
 		unsigned char c2 = *name;
-		if (special_char(c1))
+		if (isspecial(c1))
 			break;
 		if (c1 != c2)
 			return 0;
@@ -680,17 +675,12 @@ static int cmp_name(const void *p1, const void *p2)
  */
 static int simple_length(const char *match)
 {
-	const char special[256] = {
-		[0] = 1, ['?'] = 1,
-		['\\'] = 1, ['*'] = 1,
-		['['] = 1
-	};
 	int len = -1;
 
 	for (;;) {
 		unsigned char c = *match++;
 		len++;
-		if (special[c])
+		if (isspecial(c))
 			return len;
 	}
 }
diff --git a/git-compat-util.h b/git-compat-util.h
index 6ee325546e..db2836fbde 100644
--- a/git-compat-util.h
+++ b/git-compat-util.h
@@ -329,11 +329,13 @@ extern unsigned char sane_ctype[256];
 #define GIT_SPACE 0x01
 #define GIT_DIGIT 0x02
 #define GIT_ALPHA 0x04
+#define GIT_SPECIAL 0x08
 #define sane_istest(x,mask) ((sane_ctype[(unsigned char)(x)] & (mask)) != 0)
 #define isspace(x) sane_istest(x,GIT_SPACE)
 #define isdigit(x) sane_istest(x,GIT_DIGIT)
 #define isalpha(x) sane_istest(x,GIT_ALPHA)
 #define isalnum(x) sane_istest(x,GIT_ALPHA | GIT_DIGIT)
+#define isspecial(x) sane_istest(x,GIT_SPECIAL)
 #define tolower(x) sane_case((unsigned char)(x), 0x20)
 #define toupper(x) sane_case((unsigned char)(x), 0)