diff --git a/src/Symfony/Component/Routing/RouteCompiler.php b/src/Symfony/Component/Routing/RouteCompiler.php
index 32d51181998db..62114e9fc84c5 100644
--- a/src/Symfony/Component/Routing/RouteCompiler.php
+++ b/src/Symfony/Component/Routing/RouteCompiler.php
@@ -22,6 +22,7 @@ class RouteCompiler implements RouteCompilerInterface
     protected $route;
     protected $variables;
     protected $firstOptional;
+    protected $optionals;
     protected $segments;
     protected $tokens;
     protected $staticPrefix;
@@ -38,6 +39,7 @@ public function compile(Route $route)
     {
         $this->route = $route;
         $this->firstOptional = 0;
+        $this->optionals = array();
         $this->segments = array();
         $this->variables = array();
         $this->tokens = array();
@@ -91,11 +93,10 @@ protected function preCompile()
      */
     protected function postCompile()
     {
-        // all segments after the last static segment are optional
-        // be careful, the n-1 is optional only if n is empty
         for ($i = $this->firstOptional, $max = count($this->segments); $i < $max; $i++) {
-            $this->segments[$i] = (0 == $i ? '/?' : '').str_repeat(' ', $i - $this->firstOptional).'(?:'.$this->segments[$i];
-            $this->segments[] = str_repeat(' ', $max - $i - 1).')?';
+            if (in_array($i, $this->optionals)) {
+                $this->segments[$i] = (0 == $i ? '/?' : '').'(?:'.$this->segments[$i].')?';
+            }
         }
 
         $this->staticPrefix = '';
@@ -211,9 +212,10 @@ protected function compileForVariable($separator, $name, $variable)
 
         $this->segments[] = preg_quote($separator, '#').'(?P<'.$variable.'>'.$requirement.')';
         $this->variables[$variable] = $name;
-
-        if (!$this->route->getDefault($variable)) {
-            $this->firstOptional = count($this->segments);
+        
+        $this->firstOptional = 0;
+        if (null !== $this->route->getDefault($variable)) {
+            $this->optionals[] = count($this->segments)-1;
         }
     }
 
diff --git a/tests/Symfony/Tests/Component/Routing/RouteCompilerTest.php b/tests/Symfony/Tests/Component/Routing/RouteCompilerTest.php
index 9421e469d5bd3..fabb42386d463 100644
--- a/tests/Symfony/Tests/Component/Routing/RouteCompilerTest.php
+++ b/tests/Symfony/Tests/Component/Routing/RouteCompilerTest.php
@@ -70,7 +70,7 @@ public function provideCompileData()
             array(
                 'Route with several variables that have default values',
                 array('/foo/{bar}/{foobar}', array('bar' => 'bar', 'foobar' => 'foobar')),
-                '/foo', '#^/foo(?:/(?P<bar>[^/\.]+?) (?:/(?P<foobar>[^/\.]+?) )?)?$#x', array('bar' => '{bar}', 'foobar' => '{foobar}'), array(
+                '/foo', '#^/foo(?:/(?P<bar>[^/\.]+?))?(?:/(?P<foobar>[^/\.]+?))?$#x', array('bar' => '{bar}', 'foobar' => '{foobar}'), array(
                     array('variable', '/', '{foobar}', 'foobar'),
                     array('variable', '/', '{bar}', 'bar'),
                     array('text', '/', 'foo', null),
@@ -79,12 +79,31 @@ public function provideCompileData()
             array(
                 'Route with several variables but some of them have no default values',
                 array('/foo/{bar}/{foobar}', array('bar' => 'bar')),
-                '/foo', '#^/foo/(?P<bar>[^/\.]+?)/(?P<foobar>[^/\.]+?)$#x', array('bar' => '{bar}', 'foobar' => '{foobar}'), array(
+                '/foo', '#^/foo(?:/(?P<bar>[^/\.]+?))?/(?P<foobar>[^/\.]+?)$#x', array('bar' => '{bar}', 'foobar' => '{foobar}'), array(
                     array('variable', '/', '{foobar}', 'foobar'),
                     array('variable', '/', '{bar}', 'bar'),
                     array('text', '/', 'foo', null),
                 )),
 
+            array(
+                'Route with several variables that some of them have no default values and some of them have empty defaults',
+                array('/foo/{bar}/{foobar}/{foofoobar}', array('bar' => 'bar', 'foobar' => '')),
+                '/foo', '#^/foo(?:/(?P<bar>[^/\.]+?))?(?:/(?P<foobar>[^/\.]+?))?/(?P<foofoobar>[^/\.]+?)$#x', array('bar' => '{bar}', 'foobar' => '{foobar}', 'foofoobar' => '{foofoobar}'), array(
+                    array('variable', '/', '{foofoobar}', 'foofoobar'),
+                    array('variable', '/', '{foobar}', 'foobar'),
+                    array('variable', '/', '{bar}', 'bar'),
+                    array('text', '/', 'foo', null),
+                )),
+
+            array(
+                'Route with several variables that some of them have no default values and one of them is first segment',
+                array('/{bar}/{foobar}/{foofoobar}', array('bar' => 'bar', 'foobar' => 'foobar')),
+                '', '#^/?(?:/(?P<bar>[^/\.]+?))?(?:/(?P<foobar>[^/\.]+?))?/(?P<foofoobar>[^/\.]+?)$#x', array('bar' => '{bar}', 'foobar' => '{foobar}', 'foofoobar' => '{foofoobar}'), array(
+                    array('variable', '/', '{foofoobar}', 'foofoobar'),
+                    array('variable', '/', '{foobar}', 'foobar'),
+                    array('variable', '/', '{bar}', 'bar')
+                )),
+
             array(
                 'Route with a custom token',
                 array('/=foo', array(), array(), array('compiler_class' => 'Symfony\\Tests\\Component\\Routing\\RouteCompiler')),