diff --git a/qmake/main.cpp b/qmake/main.cpp
index 340567a27d4..79e3739f562 100644
--- a/qmake/main.cpp
+++ b/qmake/main.cpp
@@ -133,6 +133,7 @@ static int doSed(int argc, char **argv)
                 SedSubst subst;
                 subst.from = QRegExp(phases.at(0));
                 subst.to = phases.at(1);
+                subst.to.replace("\\\\", "\\"); // QString::replace(rx, sub) groks \1, but not \\.
                 substs << subst;
             }
         } else if (argv[i][0] == '-' && argv[i][1] != 0) {