diff --git a/src/fe-common/core/fe-ignore.c b/src/fe-common/core/fe-ignore.c
index 55a88266..a94ae0fa 100644
--- a/src/fe-common/core/fe-ignore.c
+++ b/src/fe-common/core/fe-ignore.c
@@ -134,7 +134,7 @@ static void cmd_ignore(const char *data)
 	channels = (chanarg == NULL || *chanarg == '\0') ? NULL :
 		g_strsplit(replace_chars(chanarg, ',', ' '), " ", -1);
 
-	rec = ignore_find(NULL, mask, channels);
+	rec = patternarg != NULL ? NULL: ignore_find(NULL, mask, channels);
 	new_ignore = rec == NULL;
 
 	if (rec == NULL) {