diff --git a/libguile/guile-snarf.in b/libguile/guile-snarf.in
index 617bad822..4d79f43bf 100644
--- a/libguile/guile-snarf.in
+++ b/libguile/guile-snarf.in
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 #!/bin/sh
 # Extract the initialization actions from source files.
 #
-#  Copyright (C) 1996, 97, 98, 99, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2004, 2006, 2008 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
+#  Copyright (C) 1996, 97, 98, 99, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2004, 2006, 2008, 2009 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
 #
 # This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify
 # it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
@@ -51,7 +51,7 @@ modern_snarf ()                         # writes stdout
     ## empty file.
     echo "/* cpp arguments: $@ */" ;
     ${cpp} -DSCM_MAGIC_SNARF_INITS -DSCM_MAGIC_SNARFER "$@" > ${temp} && cpp_ok_p=true
-    grep "^ *\^ *\^" ${temp} | sed -e "s/^ *\^ *\^//" -e "s/\^\ *:\ *\^.*/;/"
+    grep "^ *\^ *\^" ${temp} | sed -e "s/ *\^ *\^//g" -e "s/\^ *: *\^/;/g"
 }
 
 ## main