diff --git a/src/nix/develop.cc b/src/nix/develop.cc
index 3c44fdb0e..0938cbe5b 100644
--- a/src/nix/develop.cc
+++ b/src/nix/develop.cc
@@ -59,7 +59,7 @@ BuildEnvironment readEnvironment(const Path & path)
         R"re((?:\$?"(?:[^"\\]|\\[$`"\\\n])*"))re";
 
     static std::string squotedStringRegex =
-        R"re((?:\$?'(?:[^'\\]|\\[abeEfnrtv\\'"?])*'))re";
+        R"re((?:\$?(?:'(?:[^'\\]|\\[abeEfnrtv\\'"?])*'|\\')+))re";
 
     static std::string indexedArrayRegex =
         R"re((?:\(( *\[[0-9]+\]="(?:[^"\\]|\\.)*")*\)))re";