diff --git a/nixos/modules/services/logging/logrotate.nix b/nixos/modules/services/logging/logrotate.nix
index 92878f055ce8..caaecb7bc0ee 100644
--- a/nixos/modules/services/logging/logrotate.nix
+++ b/nixos/modules/services/logging/logrotate.nix
@@ -91,9 +91,9 @@ let
       # files required to exist also won't be present, so missingok is forced.
       user=$(${pkgs.buildPackages.coreutils}/bin/id -un)
       group=$(${pkgs.buildPackages.coreutils}/bin/id -gn)
-      sed -e "s/\bsu\s.*/su $user $group/" \
-          -e "s/\b\(create\s\+[0-9]*\s*\|createolddir\s\+[0-9]*\s\+\).*/\1$user $group/" \
-          -e "1imissingok" -e "s/\bnomissingok\b//" \
+      sed -E -e "s/\bsu\s.*/su $user $group/" \
+             -e "s/\b((create|createolddir)\b(\s+[0-9]+)?).*/\1 $user $group/" \
+             -e "1imissingok" -e "s/\bnomissingok\b//" \
           $out > logrotate.conf
       # Since this makes for very verbose builds only show real error.
       # There is no way to control log level, but logrotate hardcodes
diff --git a/nixos/tests/logrotate.nix b/nixos/tests/logrotate.nix
index 603a0f164c46..1e9cdfd45614 100644
--- a/nixos/tests/logrotate.nix
+++ b/nixos/tests/logrotate.nix
@@ -66,8 +66,10 @@ in
             checkConf = {
               su = "root utmp";
               createolddir = "0750 root utmp";
+              "createolddir " = "0750";
               create = "root utmp";
               "create " = "0750 root utmp";
+              "create  " = "0750";
             };
             # multiple paths should be aggregated
             multipath = {