diff --git a/_glua-tests/strings.lua b/_glua-tests/strings.lua
index 273226d9..4f52fe78 100644
--- a/_glua-tests/strings.lua
+++ b/_glua-tests/strings.lua
@@ -11,3 +11,9 @@ assert(ret1 == 1)
 assert(ret2 == 3)
 assert(ret3 == "aaa")
 assert(ret4 == 4)
+
+-- issue #543: string.match returns nil when there is no match
+assert(select("#", ("abc"):match("(%d+)")) == 1)
+assert(("abc"):match("(%d+)") == nil)
+assert(tonumber(("abc"):match("(%d+)")) == nil)
+assert(select("#", string.match("abc", "%d")) == 1)
diff --git a/stringlib.go b/stringlib.go
index f484c2b3..5271f06e 100644
--- a/stringlib.go
+++ b/stringlib.go
@@ -369,7 +369,7 @@ func strMatch(L *LState) int {
 	}
 	if len(mds) == 0 {
 		L.Push(LNil)
-		return 0
+		return 1
 	}
 	md := mds[0]
 	nsubs := md.CaptureLength() / 2