diff --git a/main/src/com/google/refine/util/PatternSyntaxExceptionParser.java b/main/src/com/google/refine/util/PatternSyntaxExceptionParser.java
index fddc08d92..c23faf231 100644
--- a/main/src/com/google/refine/util/PatternSyntaxExceptionParser.java
+++ b/main/src/com/google/refine/util/PatternSyntaxExceptionParser.java
@@ -121,6 +121,7 @@ public class PatternSyntaxExceptionParser {
                 // If no special handling in place fall back on error msg
                 // created by java.util.regex.PatternSyntaxException
                 sb.append(exception.getMessage());
+                break;
         }
         return sb.toString();
     }