diff --git a/g2e.awk b/g2e.awk
index 6949951..dc904a4 100644
--- a/g2e.awk
+++ b/g2e.awk
@@ -144,7 +144,7 @@ FNR==1 {
 	name = substr(id,filenamestart,RSTART-filenamestart)
 	nameout = epubodir indexdirname name ".xhtml"
 
-	sub(/#{1,3}\s+/,"", $0) # use first line as document title
+	sub(/#{1,3}[[:blank:]]+/,"", $0) # use first line as document title
 	m["title"] = $0
 	out = write_template("header.xhtml",m)
 	is_pre = 0