*** Objects/unicodeobject.c.orig	Wed Feb  5 12:48:57 2003
--- Objects/unicodeobject.c	Wed Feb  5 11:49:27 2003
***************
*** 3528,3533 ****
--- 3528,3538 ----
      if (maxcount < 0)
  	maxcount = INT_MAX;
  
+     if (str1->length == 0) {
+         PyErr_SetString(PyExc_ValueError, "empty pattern string");
+         return NULL;
+     }
+ 
      if (str1->length == 1 && str2->length == 1) {
          int i;