diff --git a/kittens/diff/collect.py b/kittens/diff/collect.py
index 0140a2c5d..0a62b1127 100755
--- a/kittens/diff/collect.py
+++ b/kittens/diff/collect.py
@@ -117,10 +117,10 @@ def collect_files(collection: Collection, left: str, right: str) -> None:
 
     def walk(base: str, names: Set[str], pmap: Dict[str, str]) -> None:
         for dirpath, dirnames, filenames in os.walk(base):
-            if any(fnmatch(dirpath, f"*/{pat}") for pat in collection.ignore_paths):
+            if any(fnmatch(dirpath, f"*/{pat}") for pat in collection.ignore_paths if pat):
                 continue
             for filename in filenames:
-                if any(fnmatch(filename, f"{pat}") for pat in collection.file_ignores):
+                if any(fnmatch(filename, f"{pat}") for pat in collection.file_ignores if pat):
                     continue
                 path = os.path.abspath(os.path.join(dirpath, filename))
                 path_name_map[path] = name = os.path.relpath(path, base)
diff --git a/kittens/diff/options/utils.py b/kittens/diff/options/utils.py
index 000d1edd6..e52e5efed 100755
--- a/kittens/diff/options/utils.py
+++ b/kittens/diff/options/utils.py
@@ -59,7 +59,7 @@ def syntax_aliases(raw: str) -> Dict[str, str]:
 
 
 def pattern_list(raw: str) -> List[str]:
-    return [pat for pat in raw.split(' ') if pat]
+    return raw.split(' ')
 
 
 def parse_map(val: str) -> Iterable[KittensKeyDefinition]: