diff --git a/.gitlab-ci.yml b/.gitlab-ci.yml
index dfce12b1569ef68362dd7630eefeb5e550a614ed..923f14517ea2ab48ab88e8db8861b152b6686fd5 100644
--- a/.gitlab-ci.yml
+++ b/.gitlab-ci.yml
@@ -37,7 +37,7 @@ parseMetadata:
   - stranded=$(singularity run 'docker://bicf/python3:2.0.1_indev' python3 ./workflow/scripts/parseMeta.py -r Replicate_RID -m "./test_data/meta/metaTest.csv" -p stranded)
   - spike=$(singularity run 'docker://bicf/python3:2.0.1_indev' python3 ./workflow/scripts/parseMeta.py -r Replicate_RID -m "./test_data/meta/metaTest.csv" -p spike)
   - species=$(singularity run 'docker://bicf/python3:2.0.1_indev' python3 ./workflow/scripts/parseMeta.py -r Replicate_RID -m "./test_data/meta/metaTest.csv" -p species)
-  - echo -e "\${endsMeta},\${endsManual},\${stranded},\${spike},\${species},\${exp},\${study},\${repRID}" > design.csv
+  - echo -e "${endsMeta},${endsManual},${stranded},${spike},${species},${exp},${study},${repRID}" > design.csv
   - pytest -m parseMetadata
 
 inferMetadata: