diff --git a/Documentation/gitattributes.txt b/Documentation/gitattributes.txt
index 94e6752aa2e78e4bcf69334ca92bc41439b33028..9259637609da2b34d15d217daeebeccc6ba853e4 100644
--- a/Documentation/gitattributes.txt
+++ b/Documentation/gitattributes.txt
@@ -288,13 +288,13 @@ for paths.
 *.tex	diff=tex
 ------------------------
 
-Then, you would define "diff.tex.funcname" configuration to
+Then, you would define "diff.tex.xfuncname" configuration to
 specify a regular expression that matches a line that you would
 want to appear as the hunk header, like this:
 
 ------------------------
 [diff "tex"]
-	funcname = "^\\(\\\\\\(sub\\)*section{.*\\)$"
+	xfuncname = "^(\\\\(sub)*section\\{.*)$"
 ------------------------
 
 Note.  A single level of backslashes are eaten by the
diff --git a/diff.c b/diff.c
index 6881cf4efaf004e939aef8789bc43526f87d10d7..dabb4b4a021414adb89d5647afe14caaff670a76 100644
--- a/diff.c
+++ b/diff.c
@@ -189,6 +189,11 @@ int git_diff_basic_config(const char *var, const char *value, void *cb)
 					return config_error_nonbool(var);
 				return parse_funcname_pattern(var, ep, value,
 					0);
+			} else if (!strcmp(ep, ".xfuncname")) {
+				if (!value)
+					return config_error_nonbool(var);
+				return parse_funcname_pattern(var, ep, value,
+					REG_EXTENDED);
 			}
 		}
 	}
diff --git a/t/t4018-diff-funcname.sh b/t/t4018-diff-funcname.sh
index 18bcd9713d4e7a1446639dece4b8bc0173c57b22..602d68f092926ac612f4fe3bca17951fcde3cea9 100755
--- a/t/t4018-diff-funcname.sh
+++ b/t/t4018-diff-funcname.sh
@@ -58,7 +58,7 @@ test_expect_success 'last regexp must not be negated' '
 '
 
 test_expect_success 'alternation in pattern' '
-	git config diff.java.funcname "^[ 	]*\\(\\(public\\|static\\).*\\)$"
+	git config diff.java.xfuncname "^[ 	]*((public|static).*)$" &&
 	git diff --no-index Beer.java Beer-correct.java |
 	grep "^@@.*@@ public static void main("
 '