diff --git a/meta/classes-recipe/npm.bbclass b/meta/classes-recipe/npm.bbclass
index 20350cea25..639f461a3a 100644
--- a/meta/classes-recipe/npm.bbclass
+++ b/meta/classes-recipe/npm.bbclass
@@ -82,7 +82,7 @@ def npm_pack(env, srcdir, workdir):
     subprocess.run(['tar', 'czf', tarball,
                     '--exclude', './node-modules',
                     '--exclude-vcs',
-                    '--transform', 's,^\./,package/,',
+                    '--transform', r's,^\./,package/,',
                     '--mtime', '1985-10-26T08:15:00.000Z',
                     '.'],
                    check = True, cwd = srcdir)