diff --git a/grep/src/search.rs b/grep/src/search.rs
index a91e5e4..c763993 100644
--- a/grep/src/search.rs
+++ b/grep/src/search.rs
@@ -184,8 +184,9 @@ impl GrepBuilder {
                  .unicode(true)
                  .case_insensitive(self.opts.case_insensitive)
                  .parse(&self.pattern));
+        let expr = try!(nonl::remove(expr, self.opts.line_terminator));
         debug!("regex ast:\n{:#?}", expr);
-        Ok(try!(nonl::remove(expr, self.opts.line_terminator)))
+        Ok(expr)
     }
 }