diff --git a/lisp/dired-x.el b/lisp/dired-x.el
index defc541ddc9..3b78ec47d93 100644
--- a/lisp/dired-x.el
+++ b/lisp/dired-x.el
@@ -159,7 +159,7 @@ See Info node `(dired-x) Omitting Variables' for more information."
 
 (put 'dired-omit-mode 'safe-local-variable 'booleanp)
 
-(defcustom dired-omit-files "^\\.?#\\|^\\.$\\|^\\.\\.$"
+(defcustom dired-omit-files "\\`[.]?#\\|\\`[.][.]?\\'"
   "Filenames matching this regexp will not be displayed.
 This only has effect when `dired-omit-mode' is t.  See interactive function
 `dired-omit-mode' (\\[dired-omit-mode]) and variable