diff --git a/CMakeLists.txt b/CMakeLists.txt
index 7e3465a75b..46abe06217 100644
--- a/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -185,7 +185,7 @@ else()
   string(REGEX REPLACE "-DNDEBUG[ \t\r\n]*" "" CMAKE_C_FLAGS_RELEASE "${CMAKE_C_FLAGS_RELEASE}")
   string(REGEX REPLACE "-DNDEBUG[ \t\r\n]*" "" CMAKE_C_FLAGS_MINSIZEREL "${CMAKE_C_FLAGS_MINSIZEREL}")
   # Prefer -O2 optimization level. (-O3 is CMake's default for Release for many compilers.)
-  string(REGEX REPLACE "-O3[ \t\r\n]*" "-O2" CMAKE_C_FLAGS_RELEASE "${CMAKE_C_FLAGS_RELEASE}")
+  string(REGEX REPLACE "-O3( |$)" "-O2\\1" CMAKE_C_FLAGS_RELEASE "${CMAKE_C_FLAGS_RELEASE}")
 endif()
 
 # Define custom "Coverage" build type.