diff --git a/IkiWiki.pm b/IkiWiki.pm
index e260fffea..e8c0c7abc 100644
--- a/IkiWiki.pm
+++ b/IkiWiki.pm
@@ -1837,6 +1837,8 @@ sub pagespec_match_list ($$;@) {
 	my $spec=shift;
 	my @params=@_;
 
+	return @$pages if $spec eq '*'; # optimisation
+
 	my $sub=pagespec_translate($spec);
 	error "syntax error in pagespec \"$spec\""
 		if $@ || ! defined $sub;
diff --git a/IkiWiki/Plugin/pagecount.pm b/IkiWiki/Plugin/pagecount.pm
index f8881a04b..a561e58e5 100644
--- a/IkiWiki/Plugin/pagecount.pm
+++ b/IkiWiki/Plugin/pagecount.pm
@@ -26,9 +26,7 @@ sub preprocess (@) {
 	# register a dependency.
 	add_depends($params{page}, $params{pages});
 	
-	my @pages=keys %pagesources;
-	@pages=pagespec_match_list(\@pages, $params{pages}, location => $params{page})
-		if $params{pages} ne "*"; # optimisation;
+	my @pages=pagespec_match_list([keys %pagesources], $params{pages}, location => $params{page});
 	return $#pages+1;
 }