diff --git a/include/boost/regex/v3/regex_compile.hpp b/include/boost/regex/v3/regex_compile.hpp
index 5059b5f9..78d098c1 100644
--- a/include/boost/regex/v3/regex_compile.hpp
+++ b/include/boost/regex/v3/regex_compile.hpp
@@ -2068,7 +2068,7 @@ unsigned int BOOST_REGEX_CALL reg_expression<charT, traits, Allocator>::fixup_le
       case re_detail::syntax_element_rep:
          if((len == 0) && (1 == fixup_leading_rep(dat->next.p, static_cast<re_detail::re_repeat*>(dat)->alt.p) ))
          {
-            static_cast<re_detail::re_repeat*>(dat)->leading = true;
+            static_cast<re_detail::re_repeat*>(dat)->leading = leading_lit;
             return len;
          }
          return len;
@@ -2121,3 +2121,4 @@ void BOOST_REGEX_CALL reg_expression<charT, traits, Allocator>::fail(unsigned in
 
 
 
+