diff --git a/libexec/bats-preprocess b/libexec/bats-preprocess
index 04297ed0..b53ebe57 100755
--- a/libexec/bats-preprocess
+++ b/libexec/bats-preprocess
@@ -31,7 +31,7 @@ encode_name() {
 
 tests=()
 index=0
-pattern='^ *@test  *([^ ].*)  *\{ *(.*)$'
+pattern='^[[:space:]]*@test[[:space:]]+([^ ].*)[[:space:]]+\{ *(.*)$'
 
 while IFS= read -r line; do
   let index+=1
diff --git a/test/bats.bats b/test/bats.bats
index f1aff293..edf59e4b 100755
--- a/test/bats.bats
+++ b/test/bats.bats
@@ -262,3 +262,14 @@ fixtures bats
   [ $status -eq 0 ]
   [ "${lines[1]}" = "ok 1 loop_func" ]
 }
+
+@test "testing @test line with tabs" {
+  run bats "$FIXTURE_ROOT/tabs.bats"
+  [ $status -eq 0 ]
+  [ "${lines[1]}" = 'ok 1 tabs1' ]
+  [ "${lines[2]}" = 'ok 2 tabs2' ]
+  [ "${lines[3]}" = 'ok 3 tabs3' ]
+  [ "${lines[4]}" = 'ok 4 tabs4' ]
+  [ "${lines[5]}" = 'ok 5 tabs5' ]
+  [ "${lines[6]}" = 'ok 6 tabs6' ]
+}
diff --git a/test/fixtures/bats/tabs.bats b/test/fixtures/bats/tabs.bats
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..9187355a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/fixtures/bats/tabs.bats
@@ -0,0 +1,23 @@
+@test "tabs1" {
+  true
+}
+
+	@test "tabs2" {
+	  true
+	}
+
+@test	"tabs3" {
+  true
+}
+
+@test "tabs4"	{
+  true
+}
+
+	@test	"tabs5" {
+	  true
+	}
+
+	@test	"tabs6"	{
+	  true
+	}