diff --git a/builtin.c b/builtin.c
index e394cc34..3a0f10dd 100644
--- a/builtin.c
+++ b/builtin.c
@@ -2791,10 +2791,17 @@ do_match(int nargs)
 		size_t *wc_indices = NULL;
 
 		rlength = REEND(rp, t1->stptr) - RESTART(rp, t1->stptr);	/* byte length */
-		if (rlength > 0 && gawk_mb_cur_max > 1) {
-			t1 = str2wstr(t1, & wc_indices);
-			rlength = wc_indices[rstart + rlength - 1] - wc_indices[rstart] + 1;
-			rstart = wc_indices[rstart];
+		if (gawk_mb_cur_max > 1) {
+			if (rlength > 0) {
+				t1 = str2wstr(t1, & wc_indices);
+				rlength = wc_indices[rstart + rlength - 1] - wc_indices[rstart] + 1;
+				rstart = wc_indices[rstart];
+			} else if (rstart == t1->stlen) {
+				// zero length match at end of string, use character index, not byte index
+				t1 = str2wstr(t1, NULL);
+				rstart = t1->wstlen;
+			} /* else
+				some other weird case, leave it alone, I guess. */
 		}
 
 		rstart++;	/* now it's 1-based indexing */