diff --git a/lib/strings.nix b/lib/strings.nix
index de135d1c2746..b2fd495e4c84 100644
--- a/lib/strings.nix
+++ b/lib/strings.nix
@@ -369,7 +369,7 @@ rec {
 
      Example:
        escapeXML ''"test" 'test' < & >''
-       => "\\[\\^a-z]\\*"
+       => "&quot;test&quot; &apos;test&apos; &lt; &amp; &gt;"
   */
   escapeXML = builtins.replaceStrings
     ["\"" "'" "<" ">" "&"]