diff --git a/public/app/plugins/datasource/influxdb/datasource.test.ts b/public/app/plugins/datasource/influxdb/datasource.test.ts
index 284717ac701..b2cdd4522e3 100644
--- a/public/app/plugins/datasource/influxdb/datasource.test.ts
+++ b/public/app/plugins/datasource/influxdb/datasource.test.ts
@@ -363,18 +363,6 @@ describe('interpolateQueryExpr', () => {
     expect(result).toBe(expectation);
   });
 
-  it('should **not** return the escaped value if the value **is not** wrapped in regex and the query is more complex (e.g. text is contained between two / but not a regex', () => {
-    const value = 'testmatch';
-    const variableMock = queryBuilder().withId('tempVar').withName('tempVar').withMulti(false).build();
-    const result = ds.interpolateQueryExpr(
-      value,
-      variableMock,
-      `select value where ("tag"::tag =~ /value/) AND where other = $tempVar $timeFilter GROUP BY time($__interval) tz('Europe/London')`
-    );
-    const expectation = `testmatch`;
-    expect(result).toBe(expectation);
-  });
-
   it('should return floating point number as it is', () => {
     const variableMock = queryBuilder()
       .withId('tempVar')
diff --git a/public/app/plugins/datasource/influxdb/datasource.ts b/public/app/plugins/datasource/influxdb/datasource.ts
index a0be6d90bf3..1292ac4b625 100644
--- a/public/app/plugins/datasource/influxdb/datasource.ts
+++ b/public/app/plugins/datasource/influxdb/datasource.ts
@@ -351,30 +351,17 @@ export default class InfluxDatasource extends DataSourceWithBackend<InfluxQuery,
     // If the variable is not a multi-value variable
     // we want to see how it's been used. If it is used in a regex expression
     // we escape it. Otherwise, we return it directly.
-    // The regex below searches for regexes within the query string
-    const regexMatcher = new RegExp(
-      /\/((?![*+?])(?:[^\r\n\[/\\]|\\.|\[(?:[^\r\n\]\\]|\\.)*\])+)\/((?:g(?:im?|mi?)?|i(?:gm?|mg?)?|m(?:gi?|ig?)?)?)/,
-      'gm'
-    );
-    // If matches are found this regex is evaluated to check if the variable is contained in the regex /^...$/ (^ and $ is optional)
+    // regex below checks if the variable inside /^...$/ (^ and $ is optional)
     // i.e. /^$myVar$/ or /$myVar/ or /^($myVar)$/
     const regex = new RegExp(`\\/(?:\\^)?(.*)(\\$${variable.name})(.*)(?:\\$)?\\/`, 'gm');
-    if (!query) {
-      return value;
-    }
-
-    const queryMatches = query.match(regexMatcher);
-    if (!queryMatches) {
-      return value;
-    }
-    for (const match of queryMatches) {
-      if (!match.match(regex)) {
-        continue;
+    if (query && regex.test(query)) {
+      if (typeof value === 'string') {
+        return escapeRegex(value);
       }
 
       // If the value is a string array first escape them then join them with pipe
       // then put inside parenthesis.
-      return typeof value === 'string' ? escapeRegex(value) : `(${value.map((v) => escapeRegex(v)).join('|')})`;
+      return `(${value.map((v) => escapeRegex(v)).join('|')})`;
     }
 
     return value;