diff --git a/pkgs/development/interpreters/perl/default.nix b/pkgs/development/interpreters/perl/default.nix
index d6197a42296..df0b549e1ff 100644
--- a/pkgs/development/interpreters/perl/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/development/interpreters/perl/default.nix
@@ -77,7 +77,7 @@ let
         "-Dlocincpth=${libcInc}/include"
         "-Dloclibpth=${libcLib}/lib"
       ]
-      ++ optionals ((builtins.match "5\.[0-9]*[13579]\..+" version) != null) [ "-Dusedevel" "-Uversiononly" ]
+      ++ optionals ((builtins.match ''5\.[0-9]*[13579]\..+'' version) != null) [ "-Dusedevel" "-Uversiononly" ]
       ++ optional stdenv.isSunOS "-Dcc=gcc"
       ++ optional enableThreading "-Dusethreads";