diff --git a/mps/qa/test/script/headread b/mps/qa/test/script/headread
index 85864560dff..5a68cda6f25 100644
--- a/mps/qa/test/script/headread
+++ b/mps/qa/test/script/headread
@@ -76,10 +76,10 @@ sub readvals {
  %keyvalues = ();
  %keyrelations = ();
 
- s/([^\/]);/\1;;/g;
+ s/([^\/]);/$1;;/g;
 
  foreach (split(/\s*;;\s*/)) {
-  s/\\(\\|;)/\1/g;
+  s/\\(\\|;)/$1/g;
 
   if (m/^\W*(\w+)\s*($relations)\s*(.+)\s*/) {
    $keyvalues{$1} = $3;