diff --git a/parser.go b/parser.go
index 03385c12..1781cc94 100644
--- a/parser.go
+++ b/parser.go
@@ -1030,8 +1030,12 @@ func isValidBinaryRune(r byte) bool {
 }
 
 func expect(x byte, b []byte) ([]byte, error) {
+	if len(b) == 0 {
+		return nil, newDecodeError(b, "expected character %c but the document ended here", x)
+	}
+
 	if b[0] != x {
-		return nil, newDecodeError(b[0:1], "expected character %U", x)
+		return nil, newDecodeError(b[0:1], "expected character %c", x)
 	}
 
 	return b[1:], nil
diff --git a/unmarshaler_test.go b/unmarshaler_test.go
index 89b96fd6..008dfda3 100644
--- a/unmarshaler_test.go
+++ b/unmarshaler_test.go
@@ -1722,6 +1722,12 @@ func TestIssue507(t *testing.T) {
 	require.Error(t, err)
 }
 
+func TestIssue579(t *testing.T) {
+	var v interface{}
+	err := toml.Unmarshal([]byte(`[foo`), &v)
+	require.Error(t, err)
+}
+
 //nolint:funlen
 func TestUnmarshalDecodeErrors(t *testing.T) {
 	examples := []struct {