diff --git a/dir.c b/dir.c
index cfaa28ff23..04a4b9861e 100644
--- a/dir.c
+++ b/dir.c
@@ -139,7 +139,7 @@ int match_pathspec(const char **pathspec, const char *name, int namelen, int pre
 
 static int no_wildcard(const char *string)
 {
-	return string[strcspn(string, "*?[{")] == '\0';
+	return string[strcspn(string, "*?[{\\")] == '\0';
 }
 
 void add_exclude(const char *string, const char *base,
diff --git a/t/t3001-ls-files-others-exclude.sh b/t/t3001-ls-files-others-exclude.sh
index 8666946b02..6a17113745 100755
--- a/t/t3001-ls-files-others-exclude.sh
+++ b/t/t3001-ls-files-others-exclude.sh
@@ -19,6 +19,9 @@ do
     >$dir/a.$i
   done
 done
+>"#ignore1"
+>"#ignore2"
+>"#hidden"
 
 cat >expect <<EOF
 a.2
@@ -42,6 +45,9 @@ three/a.8
 EOF
 
 echo '.gitignore
+\#ignore1
+\#ignore2*
+\#hid*n
 output
 expect
 .gitignore
@@ -79,9 +85,10 @@ test_expect_success \
        >output &&
      test_cmp expect output'
 
-cat > excludes-file << EOF
+cat > excludes-file <<\EOF
 *.[1-8]
 e*
+\#*
 EOF
 
 git config core.excludesFile excludes-file