diff --git a/glafp-utils/mkdependC/mkdependC.prl b/glafp-utils/mkdependC/mkdependC.prl
index 0d81c0c4ba13292610f6b89e06f964b796f71ab9..343818095b0c9c34eefb1d7ba5b483a702b933af 100644
--- a/glafp-utils/mkdependC/mkdependC.prl
+++ b/glafp-utils/mkdependC/mkdependC.prl
@@ -178,7 +178,7 @@ sub slurp_file { # follows an example in the `open' item in perl man page
        $dep_contents .= $_;
     }
     ($deps = $dep_contents) =~ s|^[^:]+:(.*)$|$1|g;
-    $deps =~ s|\\| |g;
+    $deps =~ s| \\| |g;
     
     @Deps = split(/ +/, $deps);