diff --git a/Documentation/gitattributes.txt b/Documentation/gitattributes.txt
index db16b0ca5b..9279df5349 100644
--- a/Documentation/gitattributes.txt
+++ b/Documentation/gitattributes.txt
@@ -316,6 +316,8 @@ patterns are available:
 
 - `pascal` suitable for source code in the Pascal/Delphi language.
 
+- `python` suitable for source code in the Python language.
+
 - `ruby` suitable for source code in the Ruby language.
 
 - `tex` suitable for source code for LaTeX documents.
diff --git a/diff.c b/diff.c
index 5923fe281b..2215416441 100644
--- a/diff.c
+++ b/diff.c
@@ -1394,6 +1394,7 @@ static struct builtin_funcname_pattern {
 			},
 	{ "bibtex", "\\(@[a-zA-Z]\\{1,\\}[ \t]*{\\{0,1\\}[ \t]*[^ \t\"@',\\#}{~%]*\\).*$" },
 	{ "tex", "^\\(\\\\\\(\\(sub\\)*section\\|chapter\\|part\\)\\*\\{0,1\\}{.*\\)$" },
+	{ "python", "^\\s*\\(\\(class\\|def\\)\\s.*\\)$" },
 	{ "ruby", "^\\s*\\(\\(class\\|module\\|def\\)\\s.*\\)$" },
 };