diff --git a/man4/random.4 b/man4/random.4
index 4a32aacc6..fa9c37171 100644
--- a/man4/random.4
+++ b/man4/random.4
@@ -186,7 +186,7 @@ which is run during the Linux system start-up sequence:
     fi
     chmod 600 $random_seed
     poolfile=/proc/sys/kernel/random/poolsize
-    [ \-r $poolfile ] && bits=\`cat $poolfile\` || bits=4096
+    [ \-r $poolfile ] && bits=$(cat $poolfile) || bits=4096
     bytes=$(expr $bits / 8)
     dd if=/dev/urandom of=$random_seed count=1 bs=$bytes
 .fi
@@ -202,7 +202,7 @@ run during the Linux system shutdown:
     touch $random_seed
     chmod 600 $random_seed
     poolfile=/proc/sys/kernel/random/poolsize
-    [ \-r $poolfile ] && bits=\`cat $poolfile\` || bits=4096
+    [ \-r $poolfile ] && bits=$(cat $poolfile) || bits=4096
     bytes=$(expr $bits / 8)
     dd if=/dev/urandom of=$random_seed count=1 bs=$bytes
 .fi