diff --git a/autoload/startify.vim b/autoload/startify.vim
index 632f3c0..4f5c9da 100644
--- a/autoload/startify.vim
+++ b/autoload/startify.vim
@@ -268,7 +268,7 @@ function! startify#session_write(spath)
     " remove lines from the session file
     if exists('g:startify_session_remove_lines')
       for pattern in g:startify_session_remove_lines
-        execute 'silent global/'. pattern .'/delete'
+        execute 'silent global/'. pattern .'/delete _'
       endfor
     endif