diff --git a/src/rcfile.c b/src/rcfile.c
index 674195a1..dd7d7d72 100644
--- a/src/rcfile.c
+++ b/src/rcfile.c
@@ -1130,6 +1130,9 @@ void parse_rcfile(FILE *rcstream, bool syntax_only)
 			if (has_blank_char(option)) {
 				rcfile_error(N_("Non-blank characters required"));
 				free(option);
+			} else if (mbstrlen(option) % 2 != 0) {
+				rcfile_error(N_("Even number of characters required"));
+				free(option);
 			} else
 				matchbrackets = option;
 		} else if (strcasecmp(rcopts[i].name, "whitespace") == 0) {
diff --git a/src/search.c b/src/search.c
index 4aaf42f5..723088ce 100644
--- a/src/search.c
+++ b/src/search.c
@@ -943,8 +943,6 @@ void do_find_bracket(void)
 	bool reverse;
 		/* The direction we search. */
 
-	assert(mbstrlen(matchbrackets) % 2 == 0);
-
 	ch = mbstrchr(matchbrackets, openfile->current->data + openfile->current_x);
 
 	if (ch == NULL) {