diff --git a/public/app/features/transformers/utils.ts b/public/app/features/transformers/utils.ts
index 274aa09deb7..1c32807e34c 100644
--- a/public/app/features/transformers/utils.ts
+++ b/public/app/features/transformers/utils.ts
@@ -66,7 +66,7 @@ export const numberOrVariableValidator = (value: string | number) => {
   if (!Number.isNaN(Number(value))) {
     return true;
   }
-  if (variableRegex.test(value)) {
+  if (value.match(variableRegex) !== null) {
     return true;
   }
   return false;