diff --git a/NEWS b/NEWS
index e0a255ff..973a8f4e 100644
--- a/NEWS
+++ b/NEWS
@@ -1,3 +1,4 @@
+  - fix handling of hidden sections in Config_File (messju)
   - add handling of resources for {config_load} (messju)
   - fix bug when using arrays with tr_attr and td_attr in {html_table} (messju)
   - add unit testing to cvs core (Monte)
diff --git a/libs/Config_File.class.php b/libs/Config_File.class.php
index c15e7885..72d5d019 100644
--- a/libs/Config_File.class.php
+++ b/libs/Config_File.class.php
@@ -289,9 +289,21 @@ class Config_File {
         $lines = $match[0];
         for ($i=0, $count=count($lines); $i<$count; $i++) {
             $line = $lines[$i];
-            if ( @($line{0} == '[') && preg_match('!^\[(\w+)\]!', $line, $match) ) {
+            if ( @($line{0} == '[') && preg_match('!^\[(.*?)\]!', $line, $match) ) {
                 /* section found */
-                $section_name = $match[1];
+                if ($match[1]{0} == '.') {
+                    /* hidden section */
+                    if ($this->read_hidden) {
+                        $section_name = substr($match[1], 1);
+                    } else {
+                        /* break reference to $vars to ignore hidden section */
+                        unset($vars);
+                        $vars = array();
+                        continue;
+                    }
+                } else {                    
+                    $section_name = $match[1];
+                }
                 if (!isset($config_data['sections'][$section_name]))
                     $config_data['sections'][$section_name] = array('vars' => array());
                 $vars =& $config_data['sections'][$section_name]['vars'];