diff --git a/configure.ac b/configure.ac
index e6a719b8..c5089f1d 100644
--- a/configure.ac
+++ b/configure.ac
@@ -395,7 +395,7 @@ AS_IF([test "x$HAVE_PYMOD_NUMPY" != xyes],
 AC_CHECK_PROGS([SWIG], [swig swig3.0 swig2.0])
 AS_IF([test "x$SWIG" != x],
     AC_MSG_CHECKING([for $SWIG version])
-    [SWIG_VERSION=`$SWIG -version 2>&1 | sed -n 's/SWIG Version\s*//p'`]
+    [SWIG_VERSION=`$SWIG -version 2>&1 | sed -n 's/SWIG Version //p'`]
     AC_MSG_RESULT([$SWIG_VERSION]))
 AS_IF([test "x$SWIG" = x],
 	[SR_APPEND([sr_python_missing], [', '], [SWIG])])