diff --git a/Shake.hs b/Shake.hs
index 0156691ab..5b7522d9f 100755
--- a/Shake.hs
+++ b/Shake.hs
@@ -521,7 +521,7 @@ main = do
       let versionfile = takeDirectory out </> ".version"
       need [versionfile]
       version <- ((head . words) <$>) $ liftIO $ readFile versionfile
-      cmd_ Shell sed "-i -e" ("'s/(_version_}}, *)\{\{[^}]+/\\1{{"++version++"/'") out
+      cmd_ Shell sed "-i -e" ("'s/(_version_}}, *)\\{\\{[^}]+/\\1{{"++version++"/'") out
 
     -- PKG/package.yaml <- PKG/.version
     "hledger*/package.yaml" %> \out -> do