diff --git a/bin/autojump b/bin/autojump
index 2be7f7f..81f1e38 100755
--- a/bin/autojump
+++ b/bin/autojump
@@ -279,7 +279,7 @@ def match_consecutive(needles, haystack, ignore_case=False):
     regex_no_sep_end = regex_no_sep + '$'
     regex_one_sep = regex_no_sep + sep + regex_no_sep
     # can't use compiled regex because of flags
-    regex_needle = regex_one_sep.join(needles).replace('\\', '\\\\') + regex_no_sep_end  # noqa
+    regex_needle = regex_one_sep.join(map(re.escape, needles)).replace('\\', '\\\\') + regex_no_sep_end  # noqa
     regex_flags = re.IGNORECASE | re.UNICODE if ignore_case else re.UNICODE
     found = lambda entry: re.search(
         regex_needle,