diff --git a/re.c b/re.c
index cf369a9..18646e4 100644
--- a/re.c
+++ b/re.c
@@ -278,7 +278,7 @@ research(Regexp *rp, char *str, int start,
 	 * starts in the middle of a string, so don't bother trying it
 	 * in that case.
 	 */
-	if (rp->dfareg != NULL && ! no_bol && start == 0) {
+	if (rp->dfareg != NULL && ! no_bol && ! need_start) {
 		struct dfa *superset = dfasuperset(rp->dfareg);
 		if (superset)
 			ret = dfaexec(superset, str+start, str+start+len,