diff --git a/swh/scanner/cli.py b/swh/scanner/cli.py
index 5ee2382..034b53b 100644
--- a/swh/scanner/cli.py
+++ b/swh/scanner/cli.py
@@ -1,118 +1,117 @@
 # Copyright (C) 2020  The Software Heritage developers
 # See the AUTHORS file at the top-level directory of this distribution
 # License: GNU General Public License version 3, or any later version
 # See top-level LICENSE file for more information
 
 # WARNING: do not import unnecessary things here to keep cli startup time under
 # control
 import click
 from pathlib import PosixPath
 from typing import Tuple
 
 from swh.core.cli import CONTEXT_SETTINGS
 
 
 @click.group(name="scanner", context_settings=CONTEXT_SETTINGS)
 @click.pass_context
 def scanner(ctx):
     """Software Heritage Scanner tools."""
     pass
 
 
 def parse_url(url):
     if not url.startswith("https://"):
         url = "https://" + url
     if not url.endswith("/"):
         url += "/"
     return url
 
 
 def extract_regex_objs(root_path: PosixPath, patterns: Tuple[str]) -> object:
     """Generates a regex object for each pattern given in input and checks if
        the path is a subdirectory or relative to the root path.
 
        Yields:
           an SRE_Pattern object
     """
     import glob
     import fnmatch
     import re
     from .exceptions import InvalidDirectoryPath
 
     for pattern in patterns:
         for path in glob.glob(pattern):
             dirpath = PosixPath(path)
             if root_path not in dirpath.parents:
                 error_msg = (
                     f'The path "{dirpath}" is not a subdirectory or relative '
                     f'to the root directory path: "{root_path}"'
                 )
                 raise InvalidDirectoryPath(error_msg)
 
-        if glob.glob(pattern):
-            regex = fnmatch.translate(str(PosixPath(pattern)))
-            yield re.compile(regex)
+        regex = fnmatch.translate(str(PosixPath(pattern)))
+        yield re.compile(regex)
 
 
 @scanner.command(name="scan")
 @click.argument("root_path", required=True, type=click.Path(exists=True))
 @click.option(
     "-u",
     "--api-url",
     default="https://archive.softwareheritage.org/api/1",
     metavar="API_URL",
     show_default=True,
     help="URL for the api request",
 )
 @click.option(
     "--exclude",
     "-x",
     "patterns",
     metavar="PATTERN",
     multiple=True,
     help="Exclude directories using glob patterns \
     (e.g., '*.git' to exclude all .git directories)",
 )
 @click.option(
     "-f",
     "--format",
     default="text",
     show_default=True,
     type=click.Choice(["text", "json", "ndjson", "sunburst"], case_sensitive=False),
     help="The output format",
 )
 @click.option(
     "-i", "--interactive", is_flag=True, help="Show the result in a dashboard"
 )
 @click.pass_context
 def scan(ctx, root_path, api_url, patterns, format, interactive):
     """Scan a source code project to discover files and directories already
     present in the archive"""
     import asyncio
     from .scanner import run
     from .model import Tree
     from .plot import generate_sunburst
     from .dashboard.dashboard import run_app
 
     sre_patterns = set()
     if patterns:
         sre_patterns = {
             reg_obj for reg_obj in extract_regex_objs(PosixPath(root_path), patterns)
         }
 
     api_url = parse_url(api_url)
     source_tree = Tree(PosixPath(root_path))
     loop = asyncio.get_event_loop()
     loop.run_until_complete(run(root_path, api_url, source_tree, sre_patterns))
 
     if interactive:
         root = PosixPath(root_path)
         directories = source_tree.getDirectoriesInfo(root)
         figure = generate_sunburst(directories, root)
         run_app(figure, source_tree)
     else:
         source_tree.show(format)
 
 
 if __name__ == "__main__":
     scan()
diff --git a/swh/scanner/tests/test_cli.py b/swh/scanner/tests/test_cli.py
index 3ded158..a8c4059 100644
--- a/swh/scanner/tests/test_cli.py
+++ b/swh/scanner/tests/test_cli.py
@@ -1,16 +1,16 @@
 import pytest
 
 from swh.scanner.cli import extract_regex_objs
 from swh.scanner.exceptions import InvalidDirectoryPath
 
 
 def test_extract_regex_objs(temp_folder):
     root_path = temp_folder["root"]
 
     patterns = (str(temp_folder["subdir"]), "/none")
     sre_patterns = [reg_obj for reg_obj in extract_regex_objs(root_path, patterns)]
-    assert len(sre_patterns) == 1
+    assert len(sre_patterns) == 2
 
     patterns = (*patterns, "/tmp")
     with pytest.raises(InvalidDirectoryPath):
         sre_patterns = [reg_obj for reg_obj in extract_regex_objs(root_path, patterns)]