diff --git a/Library/Homebrew/download_strategy.rb b/Library/Homebrew/download_strategy.rb
index a8092dae00..d18971d052 100644
--- a/Library/Homebrew/download_strategy.rb
+++ b/Library/Homebrew/download_strategy.rb
@@ -364,7 +364,7 @@ end
 class SubversionDownloadStrategy < VCSDownloadStrategy
   def initialize(name, resource)
     super
-    @url = @url.sub(/^svn\+/, "") if @url =~ %r[^svn\+http://]
+    @url = @url.sub(/^svn\+/, "") if @url.start_with?("svn+http://")
   end
 
   def repo_url