diff --git a/goto.bash b/goto.bash
index 28b42db..7829c28 100644
--- a/goto.bash
+++ b/goto.bash
@@ -105,8 +105,8 @@ function _goto_register_alias()
     return
   fi
 
-  if ! [[ $1 =~ ^[[:alnum:]]*[[:alpha:]][[:alnum:]]*$ ]]; then
-    _goto_error "invalid alias - only alphabetic with numbers"
+  if ! [[ $1 =~ ^[[:alnum:]]+[a-zA-Z0-9_-]*$ ]]; then
+    _goto_error "invalid alias - can start with letters or digits followed by letters, digits, hyphens or underscores"
     return
   fi