diff --git a/tools/configure b/tools/configure
index 23731530d1..d09f43c611 100755
--- a/tools/configure
+++ b/tools/configure
@@ -3648,7 +3648,7 @@ if [ -z "$arch" ]; then
     elif [ -n "$(echo $cpp_defines | grep -w __arm__)" ]; then
         arch="arm"
         # cpp defines like "#define __ARM_ARCH_4TE__ 1" (where we want to extract the 4)
-        arch_version="$(echo $cpp_defines | sed s,\ ,\\n,g | grep __ARM_ARCH | sed -e 's,.*\([0-9]\).*,\1,')"
+        arch_version="$(echo $cpp_defines | tr ' ' '\012' | grep __ARM_ARCH | sed -e 's,.*\([0-9]\).*,\1,')"
     elif [ -n "$(echo $cpp_defines | grep -w __mips__)" ]; then
         arch="mips" # FIXME: autodetect version (32 or 64)
     elif [ -n "$(echo $cpp_defines | grep -w __i386__)" ]; then