diff --git a/tools/stress/src/org/apache/cassandra/stress/settings/StressSettings.java b/tools/stress/src/org/apache/cassandra/stress/settings/StressSettings.java
index de0f6f6245..335ca92129 100644
--- a/tools/stress/src/org/apache/cassandra/stress/settings/StressSettings.java
+++ b/tools/stress/src/org/apache/cassandra/stress/settings/StressSettings.java
@@ -239,8 +239,8 @@ public class StressSettings implements Serializable
             first = false;
         }
         return sb.toString()
-                 .replaceAll("\s+([,=()])", "$1")
-                 .replaceAll("([,=(])\s+", "$1")
+                 .replaceAll("\\s+([,=()])", "$1")
+                 .replaceAll("([,=(])\\s+", "$1")
                  .split(" +");
     }