diff --git a/test/conversion b/test/conversion
index a83daf5aa..6fa6fa23b 100755
--- a/test/conversion
+++ b/test/conversion
@@ -1,8 +1,8 @@
 #!/bin/sh
 
 printf "C++:     %5d\n" $(ls *.t.cpp | wc -l)
-printf "Python:  %5d\n" $(head -n1 *.t | grep '\bpython' | wc -l)
-printf "Perl:    %5d\n" $(head -n1 *.t | grep '\bperl\b' | wc -l)
+printf "Python:  %5d\n" $(head -n1 *.t | grep -a '\bpython' | wc -l)
+printf "Perl:    %5d\n" $(head -n1 *.t | grep -a '\bperl\b' | wc -l)
 if [ "$1" = "-v" ]; then
     echo -n "Perl left:    "; echo $(grep -l '^#\! \?/usr/bin/env perl\b' *.t)
 fi