diff --git a/src/libstore/gc.cc b/src/libstore/gc.cc
index 12a76e0865e..a80ee212b50 100644
--- a/src/libstore/gc.cc
+++ b/src/libstore/gc.cc
@@ -339,7 +339,7 @@ static void readProcLink(const std::filesystem::path & file, UncheckedRoots & ro
 static std::string quoteRegexChars(const std::string & raw)
 {
     static auto specialRegex = boost::regex(R"([.^$\\*+?()\[\]{}|])");
-    return boost::regex_replace(raw, specialRegex, R"(\$&)");
+    return boost::regex_replace(raw, specialRegex, R"(\\$&)");
 }
 
 #ifdef __linux__
diff --git a/tests/functional/gc-runtime.nix b/tests/functional/gc-runtime.nix
index ee5980bdff9..10dc5e29f56 100644
--- a/tests/functional/gc-runtime.nix
+++ b/tests/functional/gc-runtime.nix
@@ -1,17 +1,29 @@
 with import ./config.nix;
 
-mkDerivation {
-  name = "gc-runtime";
-  builder =
-    # Test inline source file definitions.
-    builtins.toFile "builder.sh" ''
-      mkdir $out
+{
+  environ = mkDerivation {
+    name = "gc-runtime-environ";
+    buildCommand = "mkdir $out; echo environ > $out/environ";
+  };
 
-      cat > $out/program <<EOF
-      #! ${shell}
-      sleep 10000
-      EOF
+  open = mkDerivation {
+    name = "gc-runtime-open";
+    buildCommand = "mkdir $out; echo open > $out/open";
+  };
 
-      chmod +x $out/program
-    '';
+  program = mkDerivation {
+    name = "gc-runtime-program";
+    builder =
+      # Test inline source file definitions.
+      builtins.toFile "builder.sh" ''
+        mkdir $out
+
+        cat > $out/program << 'EOF'
+        #! ${shell}
+        sleep 10000 < "$1"
+        EOF
+
+        chmod +x $out/program
+      '';
+  };
 }
diff --git a/tests/functional/gc-runtime.sh b/tests/functional/gc-runtime.sh
index 0cccaaf16ab..44f88c3c46c 100755
--- a/tests/functional/gc-runtime.sh
+++ b/tests/functional/gc-runtime.sh
@@ -16,27 +16,39 @@ TODO_NixOS
 profiles="$NIX_STATE_DIR"/profiles
 rm -rf "$profiles"
 
-nix-env -p "$profiles/test" -f ./gc-runtime.nix -i gc-runtime
+nix-env -p "$profiles/test" -f ./gc-runtime.nix -i gc-runtime-{program,environ,open}
 
-outPath=$(nix-env -p "$profiles/test" -q --no-name --out-path gc-runtime)
-echo "$outPath"
+programPath=$(nix-env -p "$profiles/test" -q --no-name --out-path gc-runtime-program)
+environPath=$(nix-env -p "$profiles/test" -q --no-name --out-path gc-runtime-environ)
+openPath=$(nix-env -p "$profiles/test" -q --no-name --out-path gc-runtime-open)
 
 echo "backgrounding program..."
-"$profiles"/test/program &
+export environPath
+"$profiles"/test/program "$openPath"/open &
 sleep 2 # hack - wait for the program to get started
 child=$!
 echo PID=$child
 
-nix-env -p "$profiles/test" -e gc-runtime
+nix-env -p "$profiles/test" -e gc-runtime-{program,environ,open}
 nix-env -p "$profiles/test" --delete-generations old
 
 nix-store --gc
 
 kill -- -$child
 
-if ! test -e "$outPath"; then
+if ! test -e "$programPath"; then
     echo "running program was garbage collected!"
     exit 1
 fi
 
+if ! test -e "$environPath"; then
+    echo "file in environment variable was garbage collected!"
+    exit 1
+fi
+
+if ! test -e "$openPath"; then
+    echo "opened file was garbage collected!"
+    exit 1
+fi
+
 exit 0