diff --git a/autojump b/autojump
index 2f6246c..6338ab9 100755
--- a/autojump
+++ b/autojump
@@ -22,8 +22,8 @@ from sys import argv,exit,stderr
 import os
 import signal
 max_keyweight=1000
+max_stored_paths=300
 completion_separator='__'
-dead_dirs=False #global variable (evil ;-) to know if we should save the dict at the end
 
 def signal_handler(arg1,arg2):
     print "Received SIGINT, trying to continue"
@@ -36,31 +36,6 @@ def uniqadd(list,key):
 def dicadd(dic,key,increment=1):
     dic[key]=dic.get(key,0.)+increment
 
-def match(path,pattern,path_dict,ignore_case=False,only_end=False):
-    try:
-        if os.path.realpath(os.curdir)==path : return False
-    except OSError: #sometimes the current path doesn't exist anymore. In that case, jump if possible.
-        pass
-    if only_end:
-        match_string = "/".join(path.split('/')[-1-pattern.count('/'):])
-    else:
-        match_string = path
-    #import re
-    #if re.search(pattern,match_string),re.IGNORECASE if ignore_case else 0) is None:
-    if ignore_case:
-        match=(match_string.lower().find(pattern.lower()) != -1)
-    else:
-        match=(match_string.find(pattern) != -1)
-    if not match:
-        return False
-    else: 
-        if os.path.exists(path) : return True
-        else: #clean up dead directories
-            del path_dict[path]
-            global dead_dirs
-            dead_dirs=True
-            return False
-
 def save(path_dict,dic_file):
     f=open(dic_file+".tmp",'w')
     cPickle.dump(path_dict,f,-1)
@@ -84,6 +59,14 @@ def forget(path_dict,dic_file):
             path_dict[k]*=0.9*max_keyweight/keyweight
         save(path_dict,dic_file)
 
+def clean_dict(sorted_dirs,path_dict):
+    """Limits the sized of the path_dict to max_stored_paths. Returns True if keys were deleted"""
+    if len(sorted_dirs) > max_stored_paths:
+        for dir,dummy in sorted_dirs[max_stored_paths:]:
+            del path_dict[dir]
+        return True
+    else: return False
+
 # catch all unavailable (python < 2.5)
 try:
     all
@@ -94,12 +77,28 @@ except:
                 return False
         return True
 
-def find_matches(dirs,patterns,path_dict,result_list,ignore_case,max_matches):
+def match(path,pattern,ignore_case=False,only_end=False):
+    try:
+        if os.path.realpath(os.curdir)==path : return False
+    except OSError: #sometimes the current path doesn't exist anymore. In that case, jump if possible.
+        pass
+    if only_end:
+        match_string = "/".join(path.split('/')[-1-pattern.count('/'):])
+    else:
+        match_string = path
+    if ignore_case:
+        match=(match_string.lower().find(pattern.lower()) != -1)
+    else:
+        match=(match_string.find(pattern) != -1)
+    #return true if there is a match and the path exists (useful in the case of external drives, for example)
+    return match and os.path.exists(path) 
+
+def find_matches(dirs,patterns,result_list,ignore_case,max_matches):
     """Find max_matches paths that match the pattern, and add them to the result_list"""
     for path,count in dirs:
         if len(result_list) >= max_matches : break
         #For the last pattern, only match the end of the pattern
-        if all(match(path,p,path_dict,ignore_case, only_end = (n==len(patterns)-1)) for n,p in enumerate(patterns)):
+        if all(match(path,p,ignore_case, only_end = (n==len(patterns)-1)) for n,p in enumerate(patterns)):
             uniqadd(result_list,path)
 
 def open_dic(dic_file,error_recovery=False):
@@ -173,12 +172,10 @@ else:
             max_matches = 9
         else:
             max_matches = 1
-        find_matches(dirs,patterns,path_dict,results,False,max_matches)
-        dirs=path_dict.items() #we need to recreate the list since the first iteration potentially deletes paths
-        dirs.sort(key=lambda e:e[1],reverse=True)
+        find_matches(dirs,patterns,results,False,max_matches)
         if completion or not results: #if not found, try ignoring case. On completion always show all results
-            find_matches(dirs,patterns,path_dict,results,ignore_case=True,max_matches=max_matches) 
-        if dead_dirs and not completion: #save the dict if there were some non-existent directories in the database
+            find_matches(dirs,patterns,results,ignore_case=True,max_matches=max_matches) 
+        if not completion and clean_dict(dirs,path_dict): #keep the database to a reasonable size
             save(path_dict,dic_file)
 
         if completion and ('--bash', '') in optlist: quotes='"'