diff --git a/Library/Homebrew/cmd/search.rb b/Library/Homebrew/cmd/search.rb
index 8dd1ceb6a2..2fd558a5ca 100644
--- a/Library/Homebrew/cmd/search.rb
+++ b/Library/Homebrew/cmd/search.rb
@@ -93,6 +93,8 @@ module Homebrew
     when %r{^/(.*)/$} then Regexp.new($1)
     else /.*#{Regexp.escape(query)}.*/i
     end
+  rescue RegexpError
+    odie "#{query} is not a valid regex"
   end
 
   def search_taps(rx)