diff -ru a/src/pch.c b/src/pch.c
--- a/src/pch.c	2018-02-03 12:41:49.000000000 +0000
+++ b/src/pch.c	2018-11-19 21:58:54.615048655 +0000
@@ -974,8 +974,9 @@
     if ((pch_rename () || pch_copy ())
 	&& ! inname
 	&& ! ((i == OLD || i == NEW) &&
-	      p_name[! reverse] &&
-	      name_is_valid (p_name[! reverse])))
+	       p_name[reverse] && p_name[! reverse] &&
+	       name_is_valid (p_name[reverse]) &&
+	       name_is_valid (p_name[! reverse])))
       {
 	say ("Cannot %s file without two valid file names\n", pch_rename () ? "rename" : "copy");
 	skip_rest_of_patch = true;