diff --git a/Distribution/Simple/InstallDirs.hs b/Distribution/Simple/InstallDirs.hs
index 52bbe92005f08339e14019f548177104c2fd9c97..f3027636a0fed8e9ea332c145e0e7ea833b5f617 100644
--- a/Distribution/Simple/InstallDirs.hs
+++ b/Distribution/Simple/InstallDirs.hs
@@ -311,7 +311,7 @@ prefixRelativeInstallDirs pkgId compilerId dirs =
   }
   where
     -- substitute the path template into each other, except that we map
-    -- $prefix back to $prefix. We're trying to end up with templates that
+    -- \$prefix back to $prefix. We're trying to end up with templates that
     -- mention no vars except $prefix.
     dirs' = substituteTemplates pkgId compilerId dirs {
               prefixDirTemplate = PathTemplate [Variable PrefixVar]