3 files changed, 15 insertions, 20 deletions
diff --git a/src/libnetdata/simple_pattern/README.md b/src/libnetdata/simple_pattern/README.md
index cf8a0f640..93a6f2d8a 100644
--- a/src/libnetdata/simple_pattern/README.md
+++ b/src/libnetdata/simple_pattern/README.md
@@ -1,13 +1,3 @@
-<!--
-title: "Simple patterns"
-description: "Netdata supports simple patterns, which are less cryptic versions of regular expressions. Use familiar notation for powerful results."
-custom_edit_url: https://github.com/netdata/netdata/edit/master/src/libnetdata/simple_pattern/README.md
-sidebar_label: "Simple patterns"
-learn_status: "Published"
-learn_topic_type: "Tasks"
-learn_rel_path: "Developers/libnetdata"
--->
-
 # Simple patterns
 
 Unix prefers regular expressions. But they are just too hard, too cryptic
diff --git a/src/libnetdata/simple_pattern/simple_pattern.c b/src/libnetdata/simple_pattern/simple_pattern.c
index 7a7f41b1c..d0feefb4d 100644
--- a/src/libnetdata/simple_pattern/simple_pattern.c
+++ b/src/libnetdata/simple_pattern/simple_pattern.c
@@ -78,18 +78,21 @@ SIMPLE_PATTERN *simple_pattern_create(const char *list, const char *separators,
 
     if(unlikely(!list || !*list)) return root;
 
-    char isseparator[256] = {
-            [' '] = 1       // space
-            , ['\t'] = 1    // tab
-            , ['\r'] = 1    // carriage return
-            , ['\n'] = 1    // new line
-            , ['\f'] = 1    // form feed
-            , ['\v'] = 1    // vertical tab
+    bool isseparator[256] = {
+              [' ']  = true    // space
+            , ['\t'] = true    // tab
+            , ['\r'] = true    // carriage return
+            , ['\n'] = true    // new line
+            , ['\f'] = true    // form feed
+            , ['\v'] = true    // vertical tab
     };
 
-    if (unlikely(separators && *separators)) {
-        memset(&isseparator[0], 0, sizeof(isseparator));
-        while(*separators) isseparator[(unsigned char)*separators++] = 1;
+    if (unlikely(separators == SIMPLE_PATTERN_NO_SEPARATORS))
+        memset(isseparator, false, sizeof(isseparator));
+
+    else if (unlikely(separators && *separators)) {
+        memset(isseparator, false, sizeof(isseparator));
+        while(*separators) isseparator[(unsigned char)*separators++] = true;
     }
 
     char *buf = mallocz(strlen(list) + 1);
diff --git a/src/libnetdata/simple_pattern/simple_pattern.h b/src/libnetdata/simple_pattern/simple_pattern.h
index 1af0f87b9..2c105c54b 100644
--- a/src/libnetdata/simple_pattern/simple_pattern.h
+++ b/src/libnetdata/simple_pattern/simple_pattern.h
@@ -21,6 +21,8 @@ typedef enum __attribute__ ((__packed__)) {
 struct simple_pattern;
 typedef struct simple_pattern SIMPLE_PATTERN;
 
+#define SIMPLE_PATTERN_NO_SEPARATORS (const char *)(0xFFFFFFFF)
+
 // create a simple_pattern from the string given
 // default_mode is used in cases where EXACT matches, without an asterisk,
 // should be considered PREFIX matches.