diff --git a/tools/perf/util/metricgroup.c b/tools/perf/util/metricgroup.c
index b24a1c177a80..2d6865c392ef 100644
--- a/tools/perf/util/metricgroup.c
+++ b/tools/perf/util/metricgroup.c
@@ -352,25 +352,23 @@ static int setup_metric_events(const char *pmu, struct hashmap *ids,
 	return 0;
 }
 
-static bool match_metric(const char *n, const char *list)
+static bool match_metric(const char *metric_or_groups, const char *sought)
 {
 	int len;
 	char *m;
 
-	if (!list)
+	if (!sought)
 		return false;
-	if (!strcmp(list, "all"))
+	if (!strcmp(sought, "all"))
 		return true;
-	if (!n)
-		return !strcasecmp(list, "No_group");
-	len = strlen(list);
-	m = strcasestr(n, list);
-	if (!m)
-		return false;
-	if ((m == n || m[-1] == ';' || m[-1] == ' ') &&
-	    (m[len] == 0 || m[len] == ';'))
+	if (!metric_or_groups)
+		return !strcasecmp(sought, "No_group");
+	len = strlen(sought);
+	if (!strncasecmp(metric_or_groups, sought, len) &&
+	    (metric_or_groups[len] == 0 || metric_or_groups[len] == ';'))
 		return true;
-	return false;
+	m = strchr(metric_or_groups, ';');
+	return m && match_metric(m + 1, sought);
 }
 
 static bool match_pm_metric(const struct pmu_metric *pm, const char *pmu, const char *metric)