diff --git a/_test/parser.test.php b/_test/parser.test.php
index d7780cd..d4093de 100644
--- a/_test/parser.test.php
+++ b/_test/parser.test.php
@@ -23,7 +23,9 @@ public function test_parser($text, $page) {
     public function data() {
         return array(
             0 => array('~~REDIRECT>http://google.com~~', 'http://google.com'),
-            1 => array('~~REDIRECT>probability_basic_definitions#bayes_theorem~~', 'probability_basic_definitions#bayes_theorem'),
+            1 => array("\n~~REDIRECT>probability_basic_definitions#bayes_theorem~~", 'probability_basic_definitions#bayes_theorem'),
+            2 => array('#redirect start', 'start'),
+            3 => array("\n#redirect start\n", 'start'),
         );
     }
 }
diff --git a/syntax.php b/syntax.php
index e2adf02..045727f 100644
--- a/syntax.php
+++ b/syntax.php
@@ -38,7 +38,11 @@ public function getSort() {
      * @param string $mode Parser mode
      */
     public function connectTo($mode) {
-        $this->Lexer->addSpecialPattern('(?:~~REDIRECT>.+?~~|^#(?i:redirect) [^\r\n]+)', $mode, 'plugin_pageredirect');
+        // NOTE: each document is surrounted with \n by dokuwiki parser
+        // so it's safe to use \n in the pattern
+        // this fixes creole greedyness:
+        // https://github.com/glensc/dokuwiki-plugin-pageredirect/issues/18#issuecomment-249386268
+        $this->Lexer->addSpecialPattern('(?:~~REDIRECT>.+?~~|\n#(?i:redirect) [^\r\n]+)', $mode, 'plugin_pageredirect');
     }
 
     /**
@@ -56,6 +60,9 @@ public function connectTo($mode) {
      * @return  array Return an array with all data you want to use in render
      */
     public function handle($match, $state, $pos, Doku_Handler $handler) {
+        // strip leading "\n" from creole-compatible pattern
+        $match = trim($match);
+
         // extract target page from match pattern
         if($match[0] == '#') {
             # #REDIRECT PAGE