diff --git a/src/regexp_nfa.c b/src/regexp_nfa.c
index 57539f4..5288eb6 100644
--- a/src/regexp_nfa.c
+++ b/src/regexp_nfa.c
@@ -5089,6 +5089,12 @@
 	return FALSE;
     }
 #endif
+    /* Some patterns may take a long time to match, especially when using
+     * recursive_regmatch(). Allow interrupting them with CTRL-C. */
+    fast_breakcheck();
+    if (got_int)
+	return FALSE;
+
     nfa_match = FALSE;
 
     /* Allocate memory for the lists of nodes. */