diff --git a/cache-tree.c b/cache-tree.c
index 4d439bd915..d00f4ef7c2 100644
--- a/cache-tree.c
+++ b/cache-tree.c
@@ -554,9 +554,7 @@ static struct cache_tree *cache_tree_find(struct cache_tree *it, const char *pat
 		const char *slash;
 		struct cache_tree_sub *sub;
 
-		slash = strchr(path, '/');
-		if (!slash)
-			slash = path + strlen(path);
+		slash = strchrnul(path, '/');
 		/* between path and slash is the name of the
 		 * subtree to look for.
 		 */