diff --git a/pkgs/development/interpreters/python/hooks/python-imports-check-hook.sh b/pkgs/development/interpreters/python/hooks/python-imports-check-hook.sh
index 591060aca6d0..2788a947fe95 100644
--- a/pkgs/development/interpreters/python/hooks/python-imports-check-hook.sh
+++ b/pkgs/development/interpreters/python/hooks/python-imports-check-hook.sh
@@ -4,15 +4,16 @@ echo "Sourcing python-imports-check-hook.sh"
 pythonImportsCheckPhase() {
     echo "Executing pythonImportsCheckPhase"
 
-    if [ -n "$pythonImportsCheck" ]; then
-        echo "Check whether the following modules can be imported: $pythonImportsCheck"
-        pythonImportsCheckOutput=$out
-        if [ -n "$python" ]; then
+    if [ -n "${pythonImportsCheck[*]-}" ]; then
+        echo "Check whether the following modules can be imported: ${pythonImportsCheck[*]}"
+        # shellcheck disable=SC2154
+        pythonImportsCheckOutput="$out"
+        if [ -n "${python-}" ]; then
             echo "Using python specific output \$python for imports check"
             pythonImportsCheckOutput=$python
         fi
         export PYTHONPATH="$pythonImportsCheckOutput/@pythonSitePackages@:$PYTHONPATH"
-        (cd $pythonImportsCheckOutput && @pythonCheckInterpreter@ -c 'import os; import importlib; list(map(lambda mod: importlib.import_module(mod), os.environ["pythonImportsCheck"].split()))')
+        (cd "$pythonImportsCheckOutput" && @pythonCheckInterpreter@ -c 'import sys; import importlib; list(map(lambda mod: importlib.import_module(mod), sys.argv[1:]))' ${pythonImportsCheck[*]})
     fi
 }