continue;
 
                        /*
-                        * The base is a subdirectory of a path which
-                        * was specified, so all of them are interesting.
+                        * If the base is a subdirectory of a path which
+                        * was specified, all of them are interesting.
                         */
-                       return 2;
+                       if (!matchlen ||
+                           base[matchlen] == '/' ||
+                           match[matchlen - 1] == '/')
+                               return 2;
+
+                       /* Just a random prefix match */
+                       continue;
                }
 
                /* Does the base match? */
                if (!tree || type != OBJ_TREE)
                        die("corrupt tree sha %s", sha1_to_hex(sha1));
 
+               if (DIFF_OPT_TST(opt, TREE_IN_RECURSIVE)) {
+                       newbase[baselen + pathlen] = 0;
+                       opt->add_remove(opt, *prefix, mode, sha1, newbase);
+                       newbase[baselen + pathlen] = '/';
+               }
+
                init_tree_desc(&inner, tree, size);
                show_tree(opt, prefix, &inner, newbase, baselen + 1 + pathlen);
 
        }
 
        /*
-        * Then, discard all the non-relevane file pairs...
+        * Then, discard all the non-relevant file pairs...
         */
        for (i = 0; i < q->nr; i++) {
                struct diff_filepair *p = q->queue[i];