diff --git a/templates/gitlab-ci-python.yml b/templates/gitlab-ci-python.yml
index 5f8e3c92f083f620c34427411a9660abc945a1a6..ff48bd18bf35c89eb7ddda2ca7c8b2e57f950bbf 100644
--- a/templates/gitlab-ci-python.yml
+++ b/templates/gitlab-ci-python.yml
@@ -239,7 +239,7 @@ variables:
         _cond_val=$(echo "$_cond_val" | tr '[:punct:]' '_')
         # retrieve comparison value
         _cmp_val_prefix="scoped__${_target_var}__${_condition}__${_cond_var}__${_test_op}__"
-        _cmp_val=${_scoped_var#$_cmp_val_prefix}
+        _cmp_val=${_scoped_var#"$_cmp_val_prefix"}
         # manage 'ignore case'
         if [[ "$_test_op" == *_ic ]]
         then