diff --git a/git/diff.py b/git/diff.py
index 3dbe0866c..a0076f0cf 100644
--- a/git/diff.py
+++ b/git/diff.py
@@ -237,7 +237,7 @@ class Diff(object):
     # precompiled regex
     re_header = re.compile(br"""
                                 ^diff[ ]--git
-                                    [ ](?P<a_path_fallback>"?a/.+?"?)[ ](?P<b_path_fallback>"?b/.+?"?)\n
+                                    [ ](?P<a_path_fallback>"?[ab]/.+?"?)[ ](?P<b_path_fallback>"?[ab]/.+?"?)\n
                                 (?:^old[ ]mode[ ](?P<old_mode>\d+)\n
                                    ^new[ ]mode[ ](?P<new_mode>\d+)(?:\n|$))?
                                 (?:^similarity[ ]index[ ]\d+%\n
diff --git a/git/test/test_diff.py b/git/test/test_diff.py
index 56e512892..e4e7556d9 100644
--- a/git/test/test_diff.py
+++ b/git/test/test_diff.py
@@ -68,7 +68,12 @@ def test_diff_with_staged_file(self, rw_dir):
 
         with open(fp, 'w') as fs:
             fs.write("Hola Mundo")
-        r.git.commit(all=True, message="change on master")
+        r.git.add(Git.polish_url(fp))
+        self.assertEqual(len(r.index.diff("HEAD", create_patch=True)), 1,
+                         "create_patch should generate patch of diff to HEAD")
+        r.git.commit(message="change on master")
+        self.assertEqual(len(r.index.diff("HEAD", create_patch=True)), 0,
+                         "create_patch should generate no patch, already on HEAD")
 
         r.git.checkout('HEAD~1', b='topic')
         with open(fp, 'w') as fs: