diff --git a/utilities/update_docs_version.sh b/utilities/update_docs_version.sh
index 0dcd38a2318a..4d7c82c6ac70 100755
--- a/utilities/update_docs_version.sh
+++ b/utilities/update_docs_version.sh
@@ -10,7 +10,7 @@ RELEASED_VERSION=$(mvn org.apache.maven.plugins:maven-help-plugin:2.1.1:evaluate
 if [ "${RELEASED_VERSION##*-}" != "SNAPSHOT" ]; then
     echo "Changing version to $RELEASED_VERSION in README files"
     # Get list of directories for which README.md must be updated
-    module_folders=($(find . -maxdepth 2 \( -regex "./gcloud-java[-[a-z]+]+*" -o -regex "./gcloud-java-contrib/gcloud-java[-[a-z]+]+*" \) -type d) . ./gcloud-java)
+    module_folders=($(find . -maxdepth 2 -type d | sed -E -n "/^(\.|\.\/gcloud-java-contrib)\/gcloud-java(-[a-z]+)+$/p") . ./gcloud-java)
     for item in ${module_folders[*]}
     do
         sed -ri "s/<version>[0-9]+\.[0-9]+\.[0-9]+<\/version>/<version>${RELEASED_VERSION}<\/version>/g" ${item}/README.md
diff --git a/utilities/update_pom_version.sh b/utilities/update_pom_version.sh
index 0dbd58e0f39e..155502d78898 100755
--- a/utilities/update_pom_version.sh
+++ b/utilities/update_pom_version.sh
@@ -11,7 +11,7 @@
 # Get the previous maven project version.
 CURRENT_VERSION=$(mvn org.apache.maven.plugins:maven-help-plugin:2.1.1:evaluate -Dexpression=project.version | grep -Ev '(^\[|\w+:)')
 # Get list of directories for which pom.xml must be updated
-module_folders=($(find . -maxdepth 2 \( -regex "./gcloud-java[-[a-z]+]+*" -o -regex "./gcloud-java-contrib/gcloud-java[-[a-z]+]+*" \) -type d) . ./gcloud-java)
+module_folders=($(find . -maxdepth 2 -type d | sed -E -n "/^(\.|\.\/gcloud-java-contrib)\/gcloud-java(-[a-z]+)+$/p") . ./gcloud-java)
 if [ $# -eq 1 ]; then
     NEW_VERSION=$1
 elif [ "${CURRENT_VERSION##*-}" != "SNAPSHOT" ]; then