diff --git a/testsuite/symbols-test b/testsuite/symbols-test
index a49e694301e7774186a26f73e216f0f419004f5a..073a04db3d7db09f8d0a2d5ec50520f87253d301 100755
--- a/testsuite/symbols-test
+++ b/testsuite/symbols-test
@@ -6,7 +6,7 @@ if [ -z "$srcdir" ] ; then
   srcdir=`pwd`
 fi
 
-nm ../libnettle.a | grep ' [DRT] ' | egrep -v ' \.?(_?nettle_|memxor)' \
+nm ../libnettle.a | grep ' [DRT] ' | egrep -v '( |^)\.?(_?nettle_|memxor)' \
     | sort -k3 > test1.out
 
 if [ -s test1.out ] ; then