diff --git a/doc/git-annex-smudge.mdwn b/doc/git-annex-smudge.mdwn
index f3790e3c71..6f6eba8140 100644
--- a/doc/git-annex-smudge.mdwn
+++ b/doc/git-annex-smudge.mdwn
@@ -39,7 +39,6 @@ is normally configured when a repository is initialized, with the following
 contents:
 
 	* filter=annex
-	.* !filter
 
 The smudge filter does not provide git with the content of annexed files,
 because that would be slow and triggers memory leaks in git. Instead,