diff --git a/autoconf_share/assay b/autoconf_share/assay
index e21114464bf9aea988e6d6fa5226e2e4c5b6004d..f0844c8e7e8c458a9378f69204ccd20177be7dd6 100755
--- a/autoconf_share/assay
+++ b/autoconf_share/assay
@@ -303,8 +303,8 @@ EOF
 
 # Not fully equal, check if equal except for numbers.
 # Replace for this purpose all numbers by x.
-  sed -e 's/[+-]\?\(\(\([0-9]\+\)\|\([0-9]*\.\?[0-9]*\)\)\(e[+-]\?[0-9]\+\)\?\)/x/g' ${PROG}_tmp.out > ${PROG}_tmp.out2
-  sed -e 's/[+-]\?\(\(\([0-9]\+\)\|\([0-9]*\.\?[0-9]*\)\)\(e[+-]\?[0-9]\+\)\?\)/x/g' ${PROG}_tmp_orig.out > ${PROG}_tmp_orig.out2
+  sed -e 's/[+-]\?\(\(\([0-9][0-9]*\)\|\([0-9]*\.\?[0-9]*\)\)\(e[+-]\?[0-9][0-9]*\)\?\)/x/g' ${PROG}_tmp.out > ${PROG}_tmp.out2
+  sed -e 's/[+-]\?\(\(\([0-9][0-9]*\)\|\([0-9]*\.\?[0-9]*\)\)\(e[+-]\?[0-9][0-9]*\)\?\)/x/g' ${PROG}_tmp_orig.out > ${PROG}_tmp_orig.out2
   diff ${PROG}_tmp.out2 ${PROG}_tmp_orig.out2 > /dev/null 2>&1
   diff ${PROG}_tmp.out2 ${PROG}_tmp_orig.out2 > /dev/null 2>&1
   if [ $? != 0 ]
diff --git a/autoconf_share/bootstrap b/autoconf_share/bootstrap
index 05b83c6c89e328b7d2b1e7c18ad5ef2934aff174..0d6666c19b79e4ff7306764278ff522143850651 100755
--- a/autoconf_share/bootstrap
+++ b/autoconf_share/bootstrap
@@ -66,7 +66,7 @@ if [ $lfr_lofarconf = 1 ]; then
     cd $subdir > /dev/null   # suppress possible cd output
     if [ ! -r bootstrap ]; then
       # Add an extra ../ to the autoconf_share paths.
-      lfr_back=`echo $subdir | sed -e "s%/[^/]\+%/..%g" -e "s%^[^/]\+%..%"`
+      lfr_back=`echo $subdir | sed -e "s%/[^/][^/]*%/..%g" -e "s%^[^/][^/]*%..%"`
       sed -e s%autoconf%$lfr_back/autoconf%g $lfr_back/bootstrap > bootstrap
       chmod +x bootstrap
     fi
diff --git a/autoconf_share/checkfloat b/autoconf_share/checkfloat
index 955788e95a52284b92316520b82f48538a550561..f77267dbb20a0f5377b82e4655fe190eb46411ac 100755
--- a/autoconf_share/checkfloat
+++ b/autoconf_share/checkfloat
@@ -23,8 +23,8 @@
 # First replace all non-numeric characters and single e.+- by a blank.
 # Insert a blank if a - or + is preceeded by a digit.
 # Replace blanks by a newline.
-  sed -e 's/[^-+.e0-9]/ /g' $1 | sed -e 's/\(^\| \)[e.+-]\+\( \|$\)//g' | sed -e 's/^ \+//' -e 's/ \+$//' -e 's/\([0-9.]\)\([+-]\)/\1 \2/g' -e 's/ \+/\n/g' > /tmp/$pid.checkfloat_tmp.1
-  sed -e 's/[^-+.e0-9]/ /g' $2 | sed -e 's/\(^\| \)[e.+-]\+\( \|$\)//g' | sed -e 's/^ \+//' -e 's/ \+$//' -e 's/\([0-9.]\)\([+-]\)/\1 \2/g' -e 's/ \+/\n/g' > /tmp/$pid.checkfloat_tmp.2
+  sed -e 's/[^-+.e0-9]/ /g' $1 | sed -e 's/\(^\| \)[e.+-][e.+-]*\( \|$\)//g' | sed -e 's/^ *//' -e 's/ *$//' -e 's/\([0-9.]\)\([+-]\)/\1 \2/g' -e 's/  */\n/g' > /tmp/$pid.checkfloat_tmp.1
+  sed -e 's/[^-+.e0-9]/ /g' $2 | sed -e 's/\(^\| \)[e.+-][e.+-]*\( \|$\)//g' | sed -e 's/^ *//' -e 's/ *$//' -e 's/\([0-9.]\)\([+-]\)/\1 \2/g' -e 's/  */\n/g' > /tmp/$pid.checkfloat_tmp.2
 
 # Show the differences column-wise.
   diff -y --suppress-common-lines /tmp/$pid.checkfloat_tmp.1 /tmp/$pid.checkfloat_tmp.2 > /tmp/$pid.checkfloat_tmp.diff
diff --git a/autoconf_share/lofarconf b/autoconf_share/lofarconf
index bb6f7043da4dc74fc6ec5eec8371fa3904749b1c..2b54124cd66d240ec48dfcb981c85133a466da8a 100755
--- a/autoconf_share/lofarconf
+++ b/autoconf_share/lofarconf
@@ -79,7 +79,7 @@ fi
 
 # Get the default install directory.
 # It is the root of the build tree followed by installed/variant.
-lfr_back=`echo $lfr_pkg | sed -e "s%/[^/]\+%/..%g" -e "s%^[^/]\+%..%"`
+lfr_back=`echo $lfr_pkg | sed -e "s%/[^/][^/]*%/..%g" -e "s%^[^/][^/]*%..%"`
 lfr_install=`cd ../../$lfr_back && pwd`
 lfr_install=$lfr_install/installed/$lfr_cvdir
 
diff --git a/autoconf_share/lofarconf_subst b/autoconf_share/lofarconf_subst
index 21bf1dfa88623d334ccb12d2d4228409fc1f2eb0..2f04e65fff6758bb4585f38b9654c98753575f51 100755
--- a/autoconf_share/lofarconf_subst
+++ b/autoconf_share/lofarconf_subst
@@ -47,14 +47,14 @@ do
   fi
   # First test if a variable is defined.
   # Exit the loop if no more variables.
-  a1=`echo "$opts" | sed -e 's/\$([^) ]\+)//'`
+  a1=`echo "$opts" | sed -e 's/\$([^) ][^) ]*)//'`
   if [ "$opts" = "$a1" ]; then
     break;
   fi
   # Get the part before, the name and the part after.
-  r1=`echo "$opts" | sed -e 's/\(.*\)\$([^) ]\+).*/\1/'`
-  var=`echo "$opts" | sed -e 's/.*\$(\([^) ]\+\)).*/\1/'`
-  r2=`echo "$opts" | sed -e 's/.*\$([^) ]\+)\(.*\)/\1/'`
+  r1=`echo "$opts" | sed -e 's/\(.*\)\$([^) ][^) ]*).*/\1/'`
+  var=`echo "$opts" | sed -e 's/.*\$(\([^) ][^) ]*\)).*/\1/'`
+  r2=`echo "$opts" | sed -e 's/.*\$([^) ][^) ]*)\(.*\)/\1/'`
   # Try to find the variable in one of the variant files.
   varval=`egrep "^$lfr_cmp\.compiler\.$var\.var:" variants_local`
   if [ "x$varval" = "x" ]; then
diff --git a/autoconf_share/profiletool b/autoconf_share/profiletool
index c737b5ed56a70e6d9e90e2d1f1db445f10715dce..c9b962ae121bf6050d80ea222d21e5eebfff4c39 100755
--- a/autoconf_share/profiletool
+++ b/autoconf_share/profiletool
@@ -45,7 +45,7 @@ shift;
 # all profiling output goes into profile directory
 # find new name for this run
 #
-alldirs=`ls -1 | grep "^$binname.profile.dir.[[:digit:]]\+$" | cut -d. -f4 | sort -n | tail -1`;
+alldirs=`ls -1 | grep "^$binname.profile.dir.[0-9][0-9]*$" | cut -d. -f4 | sort -n | tail -1`;
 if test "$alldirs" = ""; then
     profdir="$binname.profile.dir.1";
 else
@@ -111,7 +111,7 @@ declare -i loopcount=0;
 while test \( $progpid -eq 0 \) -a \( $loopcount -lt 5 \); do
     sleep 1
 #    pstree -np $timepid 2> /dev/null
-    declare -i progpid=`pstree -np $timepid 2> /dev/null | sed -e "s/^.*$binname.*(\([[:digit:]]\+\)).*$/\1/"`;
+    declare -i progpid=`pstree -np $timepid 2> /dev/null | sed -e "s/^.*$binname.*(\([0-9][0-9]*\)).*$/\1/"`;
     loopcount=$loopcount+1;
 done