diff --git a/programs/Makefile b/programs/Makefile
index 8257e394e..a7de2e1af 100644
--- a/programs/Makefile
+++ b/programs/Makefile
@@ -67,7 +67,7 @@ endif
 
 # zlib detection
 VOID = /dev/null
-HAVE_ZLIB := $(shell echo -e "\#include <zlib.h>\nint main(){}" | $(CC) -o have_zlib -x c - -lz 2> $(VOID) && echo 1 || echo 0)
+HAVE_ZLIB := $(shell echo $$'\#include <zlib.h>\nint main(){}' | $(CC) -o have_zlib -x c - -lz 2> $(VOID) && echo 1 || echo 0)
 ifeq ($(HAVE_ZLIB), 1)
 TEMP := $(shell rm have_zlib$(EXT))
 ZLIBCPP = -DZSTD_GZDECOMPRESS