diff --git a/workflow/rna-seq.nf b/workflow/rna-seq.nf
index 802e747f6bbb240b6f6451f0267ccd473c68af7d..9dbb69b73cc80017f3d71f76f801ebdc4aed7323 100755
--- a/workflow/rna-seq.nf
+++ b/workflow/rna-seq.nf
@@ -140,7 +140,7 @@ process parseMetadata {
     echo "LOG: endedness manually detected: \${endsManual}" >>${repRID}.parseMetadata.err
     
     
-    if [ \${endsMeta} == "uk" ]
+    if [ '\${endsMeta}' == "uk" ]
     then
       ends=\${endsManual}
       echo "LOG: manual detected endness used" >>${repRID}.parseMetadata.err