diff --git a/Ledger/Ledger.hs b/Ledger/Ledger.hs
index 6e8be2367..275b67ebd 100644
--- a/Ledger/Ledger.hs
+++ b/Ledger/Ledger.hs
@@ -70,10 +70,9 @@ cacheLedger l pats =
     in
       Ledger l'' ant amap lprecision
 
--- | keep only entries whose description matches one of the
--- description patterns, if any, and which have at least one
--- transaction matching one of the account patterns, if any.
--- No description or account patterns implies match all.
+-- | keep only entries whose description matches one of the description
+-- patterns, and which have at least one transaction matching one of the
+-- account patterns. (One or both patterns may be the wildcard.)
 filterLedgerEntries :: (Regex,Regex) -> RawLedger -> RawLedger
 filterLedgerEntries (acctpat,descpat) (RawLedger ms ps es f) = 
     RawLedger ms ps filteredentries f
@@ -89,9 +88,8 @@ filterLedgerEntries (acctpat,descpat) (RawLedger ms ps es f) =
                       Nothing -> False
                       otherwise -> True
 
--- | in each ledger entry, filter out transactions which do not match
--- the account patterns, if any.  (Entries are no longer balanced
--- after this.)
+-- | in each ledger entry, filter out transactions which do not match the
+-- account patterns.  (Entries are no longer balanced after this.)
 filterLedgerTransactions :: (Regex,Regex) -> RawLedger -> RawLedger
 filterLedgerTransactions (acctpat,descpat) (RawLedger ms ps es f) = 
     RawLedger ms ps (map filterentrytxns es) f
@@ -219,6 +217,7 @@ showLedgerAccounts l maxdepth =
     concatMap 
     (showAccountTree l) 
     (branches $ ledgerAccountTree l maxdepth)
+-- XXX need to add up and show balances too
 
 showAccountTree :: Ledger -> Tree Account -> String
 showAccountTree l = showAccountTree' l 0 . pruneBoringBranches
diff --git a/Options.hs b/Options.hs
index cce88ee44..3542ce1b9 100644
--- a/Options.hs
+++ b/Options.hs
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-module Options (parseOptions, parsePatternArgs, wildcard, Flag(..), usage, ledgerFilePath)
+module Options (parseOptions, parsePatternArgs, nullpats, wildcard, Flag(..), usage, ledgerFilePath)
 where
 import System.Console.GetOpt
 import System.Directory
@@ -92,3 +92,4 @@ regexFor ss = mkRegex $ "(" ++ (unwords $ intersperse "|" ss) ++ ")"
 wildcard :: Regex
 wildcard = mkRegex ".*"
 
+nullpats = (wildcard,wildcard)
diff --git a/Tests.hs b/Tests.hs
index 349e68c8a..9e95b1a51 100644
--- a/Tests.hs
+++ b/Tests.hs
@@ -284,7 +284,7 @@ ledger7 = RawLedger
           ]
           ""
 
-l7 = cacheLedger ledger7 (wildcard,wildcard)
+l7 = cacheLedger ledger7 nullpats
 
 timelogentry1_str  = "i 2007/03/11 16:19:00 hledger\n"
 timelogentry1 = TimeLogEntry 'i' "2007/03/11 16:19:00" "hledger"
@@ -375,7 +375,7 @@ test_ledgerAccountNames =
     (rawLedgerAccountNames ledger7)
 
 test_cacheLedger =
-    assertEqual' 15 (length $ Map.keys $ accounts $ cacheLedger ledger7 (wildcard,wildcard))
+    assertEqual' 15 (length $ Map.keys $ accounts $ cacheLedger ledger7 nullpats)
 
 test_showLedgerAccounts = 
     assertEqual' 4 (length $ lines $ showLedgerAccounts l7 1)
diff --git a/hledger.hs b/hledger.hs
index 757ffeafc..a7c01fbdc 100644
--- a/hledger.hs
+++ b/hledger.hs
@@ -77,9 +77,9 @@ balance opts pats = parseLedgerAndDo opts pats printbalance
           where 
             showsubs = (ShowSubs `elem` opts)
             depth = case (pats, showsubs) of
-                      -- when there are no account patterns and no -s, show
+                      -- when there are no filter patterns and no -s, show
                       -- only to depth 1. (This was clearer when we used maybe.)
-                      ((wildcard,_), False) -> 1
+                      (nullpats, False) -> 1
                       otherwise  -> 9999
 
 -- | parse the user's specified ledger file and do some action with it
@@ -104,7 +104,7 @@ rawledger = do
 ledger :: IO Ledger
 ledger = do
   l <- rawledger
-  return $ cacheLedger l (wildcard,wildcard)
+  return $ cacheLedger l nullpats
 
 -- | get a Ledger from the given file path
 rawledgerfromfile :: String -> IO RawLedger