diff --git a/util/update_copyrights b/util/update_copyrights
index c07043915c..824c7d51cf 100644
--- a/util/update_copyrights
+++ b/util/update_copyrights
@@ -151,8 +151,8 @@ foreach $file (keys %file_types) {
 		# Remove 1-7 spaces followed by a tab into a single
 		# tab if at start of line or proceeded by tabs.
 		s/^(\t*) {1,7}\t/$1\t/ while (/^\t* {1,7}\t/);
-		s/^(\s{0,3}\d*\.)\s(\[\w{1,5}\])\s+(\S+)/\1\t\2\t\t\3/;
-		s/^(\s{0,3}\d*\.)\s(\[\w{6,}\])\s+(\S+)/\1\t\2\t\3/;
+		s/^(\s{0,3}\d*\.)\s(\[\w{1,5}\])\s+(\S+)/$1\t$2\t\t$3/;
+		s/^(\s{0,3}\d*\.)\s(\[\w{6,}\])\s+(\S+)/$1\t$2\t$3/;
 		# Convert 8 spaces into tabs if at start of line
 		# or preceeded by tabs.
 		s/^(\t*)        /$1\t/ while (/^\t*        /);