diff --git a/gcc/cobol/lexio.cc b/gcc/cobol/lexio.cc
index 6014b253d6c2449c1780b7f7f3546a08983e8f3f..ca41dca87a3d8b3ff87acf7f3ccf4444075891f8 100644
--- a/gcc/cobol/lexio.cc
+++ b/gcc/cobol/lexio.cc
@@ -340,7 +340,7 @@ check_source_format_directive( filespan_t& mfile ) {
   if( ! (p < mfile.eol && p[1] == *p ) ) return;
 
   const char pattern[] =
-    ">>source[[:blank:]]+"
+    ">>[[:blank:]]*source[[:blank:]]+"
     "(format[[:blank:]]+)?"
     "(is[[:blank:]]+)?"
     "(fixed|free)";