diff --git a/Library/Homebrew/searchable.rb b/Library/Homebrew/searchable.rb
index 9fca0bfdaa..72079b2161 100644
--- a/Library/Homebrew/searchable.rb
+++ b/Library/Homebrew/searchable.rb
@@ -17,7 +17,8 @@ module Searchable
   def search_regex(regex)
     select do |*args|
       args = yield(*args) if block_given?
-      [*args].any? { |arg| arg.match?(regex) }
+      args = [*args].compact
+      args.any? { |arg| arg.match?(regex) }
     end
   end
 
@@ -25,7 +26,8 @@ module Searchable
     simplified_string = simplify_string(string)
     select do |*args|
       args = yield(*args) if block_given?
-      [*args].any? { |arg| simplify_string(arg).include?(simplified_string) }
+      args = [*args].compact
+      args.any? { |arg| simplify_string(arg).include?(simplified_string) }
     end
   end
 end
diff --git a/Library/Homebrew/test/searchable_spec.rb b/Library/Homebrew/test/searchable_spec.rb
index aaf2247795..01f0d00be2 100644
--- a/Library/Homebrew/test/searchable_spec.rb
+++ b/Library/Homebrew/test/searchable_spec.rb
@@ -1,13 +1,13 @@
 require "searchable"
 
 describe Searchable do
-  subject { ary.extend(described_class) }
+  subject { collection.extend(described_class) }
 
-  let(:ary) { ["with-dashes"] }
+  let(:collection) { ["with-dashes"] }
 
   describe "#search" do
     context "when given a block" do
-      let(:ary) { [["with-dashes", "withdashes"]] }
+      let(:collection) { [["with-dashes", "withdashes"]] }
 
       it "searches by the selected argument" do
         expect(subject.search(/withdashes/) { |_, short_name| short_name }).not_to be_empty
@@ -26,5 +26,21 @@ describe Searchable do
         expect(subject.search("with dashes")).to eq ["with-dashes"]
       end
     end
+
+    context "when searching a Hash" do
+      let(:collection) { { "foo" => "bar" } }
+
+      it "returns a Hash" do
+        expect(subject.search("foo")).to eq "foo" => "bar"
+      end
+
+      context "containing nil" do
+        let(:collection) { { "foo" => nil } }
+
+        it "does not raise an error" do
+          expect(subject.search("foo")).to eq "foo" => nil
+        end
+      end
+    end
   end
 end