diff --git a/gitweb/gitweb.perl b/gitweb/gitweb.perl
index b67972ec5d..8d34d55884 100755
--- a/gitweb/gitweb.perl
+++ b/gitweb/gitweb.perl
@@ -1538,7 +1538,7 @@ sub sanitize {
 	return undef unless defined $str;
 
 	$str = to_utf8($str);
-	$str =~ s|([[:cntrl:]])|($1 =~ /[\t\n\r]/ ? $1 : quot_cec($1))|eg;
+	$str =~ s|([[:cntrl:]])|(index("\t\n\r", $1) != -1 ? $1 : quot_cec($1))|eg;
 	return $str;
 }