diff --git a/Documentation/kbuild/kconfig.txt b/Documentation/kbuild/kconfig.txt
index e349f293cc9829dc5cad185a41f95cb8627e90ea..8ef6dbb6a462d707401fe08289dfa51702125789 100644
--- a/Documentation/kbuild/kconfig.txt
+++ b/Documentation/kbuild/kconfig.txt
@@ -175,11 +175,9 @@ Searching in menuconfig:
 		/^hotplug
 
 	When searching, symbols are sorted thus:
-	  - exact match first: an exact match is when the search matches
-	    the complete symbol name;
-	  - alphabetical order: when two symbols do not match exactly,
-	    they are sorted in alphabetical order (in the user's current
-	    locale).
+	  - first, exact matches, sorted alphabetically (an exact match
+	    is when the search matches the complete symbol name);
+	  - then, other matches, sorted alphabetically.
 	For example: ^ATH.K matches:
 	    ATH5K ATH9K ATH5K_AHB ATH5K_DEBUG [...] ATH6KL ATH6KL_DEBUG
 	    [...] ATH9K_AHB ATH9K_BTCOEX_SUPPORT ATH9K_COMMON [...]
diff --git a/scripts/kconfig/mconf.c b/scripts/kconfig/mconf.c
index 6c9c45f9fbbac432a877112f4243f483ed01e9e3..2c3963165a0d83f45b2d180361e12e4542588302 100644
--- a/scripts/kconfig/mconf.c
+++ b/scripts/kconfig/mconf.c
@@ -401,8 +401,8 @@ static void search_conf(void)
 	struct subtitle_part stpart;
 
 	title = str_new();
-	str_printf( &title, _("Enter %s (sub)string or regexp to search for "
-			      "(with or without \"%s\")"), CONFIG_, CONFIG_);
+	str_printf( &title, _("Enter (sub)string or regexp to search for "
+			      "(with or without \"%s\")"), CONFIG_);
 
 again:
 	dialog_clear();
diff --git a/scripts/kconfig/nconf.c b/scripts/kconfig/nconf.c
index 7975d8d258c3f6cb8848a137a3f263a4f16f1d20..4fbecd2473bc51904629056eaa8bacb7b42fb660 100644
--- a/scripts/kconfig/nconf.c
+++ b/scripts/kconfig/nconf.c
@@ -695,8 +695,8 @@ static void search_conf(void)
 	int dres;
 
 	title = str_new();
-	str_printf( &title, _("Enter %s (sub)string or regexp to search for "
-			      "(with or without \"%s\")"), CONFIG_, CONFIG_);
+	str_printf( &title, _("Enter (sub)string or regexp to search for "
+			      "(with or without \"%s\")"), CONFIG_);
 
 again:
 	dres = dialog_inputbox(main_window,
diff --git a/scripts/kconfig/symbol.c b/scripts/kconfig/symbol.c
index d550300ec00c34e5b1748478c6381341e9412e0b..a76b8fd1db4f17d3b8252a5a82b77b4122e460a7 100644
--- a/scripts/kconfig/symbol.c
+++ b/scripts/kconfig/symbol.c
@@ -963,11 +963,11 @@ struct sym_match {
  * - first, symbols that match exactly
  * - then, alphabetical sort
  */
-static int sym_rel_comp( const void *sym1, const void *sym2 )
+static int sym_rel_comp(const void *sym1, const void *sym2)
 {
-	struct sym_match *s1 = *(struct sym_match **)sym1;
-	struct sym_match *s2 = *(struct sym_match **)sym2;
-	int l1, l2;
+	const struct sym_match *s1 = sym1;
+	const struct sym_match *s2 = sym2;
+	int exact1, exact2;
 
 	/* Exact match:
 	 * - if matched length on symbol s1 is the length of that symbol,
@@ -978,11 +978,11 @@ static int sym_rel_comp( const void *sym1, const void *sym2 )
 	 * exactly; if this is the case, we can't decide which comes first,
 	 * and we fallback to sorting alphabetically.
 	 */
-	l1 = s1->eo - s1->so;
-	l2 = s2->eo - s2->so;
-	if (l1 == strlen(s1->sym->name) && l2 != strlen(s2->sym->name))
+	exact1 = (s1->eo - s1->so) == strlen(s1->sym->name);
+	exact2 = (s2->eo - s2->so) == strlen(s2->sym->name);
+	if (exact1 && !exact2)
 		return -1;
-	if (l1 != strlen(s1->sym->name) && l2 == strlen(s2->sym->name))
+	if (!exact1 && exact2)
 		return 1;
 
 	/* As a fallback, sort symbols alphabetically */
@@ -992,7 +992,7 @@ static int sym_rel_comp( const void *sym1, const void *sym2 )
 struct symbol **sym_re_search(const char *pattern)
 {
 	struct symbol *sym, **sym_arr = NULL;
-	struct sym_match **sym_match_arr = NULL;
+	struct sym_match *sym_match_arr = NULL;
 	int i, cnt, size;
 	regex_t re;
 	regmatch_t match[1];
@@ -1005,47 +1005,38 @@ struct symbol **sym_re_search(const char *pattern)
 		return NULL;
 
 	for_all_symbols(i, sym) {
-		struct sym_match *tmp_sym_match;
 		if (sym->flags & SYMBOL_CONST || !sym->name)
 			continue;
 		if (regexec(&re, sym->name, 1, match, 0))
 			continue;
-		if (cnt + 1 >= size) {
+		if (cnt >= size) {
 			void *tmp;
 			size += 16;
-			tmp = realloc(sym_match_arr, size * sizeof(struct sym_match *));
-			if (!tmp) {
+			tmp = realloc(sym_match_arr, size * sizeof(struct sym_match));
+			if (!tmp)
 				goto sym_re_search_free;
-			}
 			sym_match_arr = tmp;
 		}
 		sym_calc_value(sym);
-		tmp_sym_match = (struct sym_match*)malloc(sizeof(struct sym_match));
-		if (!tmp_sym_match)
-			goto sym_re_search_free;
-		tmp_sym_match->sym = sym;
-		/* As regexec return 0, we know we have a match, so
+		/* As regexec returned 0, we know we have a match, so
 		 * we can use match[0].rm_[se]o without further checks
 		 */
-		tmp_sym_match->so = match[0].rm_so;
-		tmp_sym_match->eo = match[0].rm_eo;
-		sym_match_arr[cnt++] = tmp_sym_match;
+		sym_match_arr[cnt].so = match[0].rm_so;
+		sym_match_arr[cnt].eo = match[0].rm_eo;
+		sym_match_arr[cnt++].sym = sym;
 	}
 	if (sym_match_arr) {
-		qsort(sym_match_arr, cnt, sizeof(struct sym_match*), sym_rel_comp);
+		qsort(sym_match_arr, cnt, sizeof(struct sym_match), sym_rel_comp);
 		sym_arr = malloc((cnt+1) * sizeof(struct symbol));
 		if (!sym_arr)
 			goto sym_re_search_free;
 		for (i = 0; i < cnt; i++)
-			sym_arr[i] = sym_match_arr[i]->sym;
+			sym_arr[i] = sym_match_arr[i].sym;
 		sym_arr[cnt] = NULL;
 	}
 sym_re_search_free:
-	if (sym_match_arr) {
-		for (i = 0; i < cnt; i++)
-			free(sym_match_arr[i]);
-		free(sym_match_arr);
-	}
+	/* sym_match_arr can be NULL if no match, but free(NULL) is OK */
+	free(sym_match_arr);
 	regfree(&re);
 
 	return sym_arr;