diff --git a/lib/moodlelib.php b/lib/moodlelib.php
index 1adab8de923..5e62614f4e8 100644
--- a/lib/moodlelib.php
+++ b/lib/moodlelib.php
@@ -5874,7 +5874,7 @@ function email_should_be_diverted($email) {
         return true;
     }
 
-    $patterns = array_map('trim', preg_split("/[\s,]+/", $CFG->divertallemailsexcept));
+    $patterns = array_map('trim', preg_split("/[\s,]+/", $CFG->divertallemailsexcept, -1, PREG_SPLIT_NO_EMPTY));
     foreach ($patterns as $pattern) {
         if (preg_match("/$pattern/", $email)) {
             return false;
diff --git a/lib/tests/moodlelib_test.php b/lib/tests/moodlelib_test.php
index 57d9cc393be..561de2d4356 100644
--- a/lib/tests/moodlelib_test.php
+++ b/lib/tests/moodlelib_test.php
@@ -3408,6 +3408,22 @@ EOF;
                 ),
                 true,
             ),
+            'alsodivertsblankline' => array(
+                'divertallemailsto' => 'somewhere@elsewhere.com',
+                'divertallemailsexcept' => "@dev.com\n",
+                [
+                    'lionel@example.com',
+                ],
+                true,
+            ),
+            'divertsexceptionblankline' => array(
+                'divertallemailsto' => 'somewhere@elsewhere.com',
+                'divertallemailsexcept' => "@example.com\n",
+                [
+                    'lionel@example.com',
+                ],
+                false,
+            ),
         );
     }