diff --git a/src/vs/base/common/strings.ts b/src/vs/base/common/strings.ts
index 2200f4e57214487fc395608dbc52f4ba7277a87a..449fadff2dd27f8030996b851b92b97ea74e1edc 100644
--- a/src/vs/base/common/strings.ts
+++ b/src/vs/base/common/strings.ts
@@ -221,7 +221,7 @@ export function createRegExp(searchString: string, isRegex: boolean, options: Re
 export function regExpLeadsToEndlessLoop(regexp: RegExp): boolean {
 	// Exit early if it's one of these special cases which are meant to match
 	// against an empty string
-	if (regexp.source === '^' || regexp.source === '^$' || regexp.source === '$') {
+	if (regexp.source === '^' || regexp.source === '^$' || regexp.source === '$' || regexp.source === '^\\s*$') {
 		return false;
 	}