diff --git a/urlmatch.c b/urlmatch.c
index b2d88a5289..20bc2d009c 100644
--- a/urlmatch.c
+++ b/urlmatch.c
@@ -441,6 +441,11 @@ char *url_normalize(const char *url, struct url_info *out_info)
 	return url_normalize_1(url, out_info, false);
 }
 
+char *url_normalize_pattern(const char *url, struct url_info *out_info)
+{
+	return url_normalize_1(url, out_info, true);
+}
+
 char *url_parse(const char *url_orig, struct url_info *out_info)
 {
 	struct strbuf url;
diff --git a/urlmatch.h b/urlmatch.h
index 6b3ce42858..db1a335e72 100644
--- a/urlmatch.h
+++ b/urlmatch.h
@@ -37,6 +37,18 @@ struct url_info {
 char *url_normalize(const char *, struct url_info *);
 char *url_parse(const char *, struct url_info *);
 
+/*
+ * Like url_normalize(), but also allows '*' glob characters in the host
+ * portion. Use this when normalizing URL patterns from user configuration.
+ *
+ * Note that '*' is a valid path character per RFC 3986 (as a sub-delim),
+ * so glob patterns using '*' in the path are also accepted.
+ *
+ * Returns a newly allocated normalized string and fills out_info if
+ * non-NULL, or NULL if the pattern is invalid.
+ */
+char *url_normalize_pattern(const char *url, struct url_info *out_info);
+
 struct urlmatch_item {
 	size_t hostmatch_len;
 	size_t pathmatch_len;