diff --git a/src/js/resources/href-sanitizer.js b/src/js/resources/href-sanitizer.js
index ae43b4906..8b35d3fbf 100644
--- a/src/js/resources/href-sanitizer.js
+++ b/src/js/resources/href-sanitizer.js
@@ -97,7 +97,7 @@ function hrefSanitizer(
         }
         if ( source === 'text' ) {
             return elem.textContent
-                .replace(/^[^\x21-\x7e]+|/, '') // remove leading invalid characters
+                .replace(/^[^\x21-\x7e]+/, '')  // remove leading invalid characters
                 .replace(/[^\x21-\x7e]+$/, ''); // remove trailing invalid characters
         }
         const steps = source.replace(/(\S)\?/g, '\\1 ?').split(/\s+/);