diff --git a/lisp/htmlfontify.el b/lisp/htmlfontify.el
index 0c5a2477e5d..aa7cf430a4d 100644
--- a/lisp/htmlfontify.el
+++ b/lisp/htmlfontify.el
@@ -370,8 +370,8 @@ commands in `hfy-etags-cmd-alist'."
         (when (eq (call-process hfy-etags-bin nil t nil "--version") 0)
           (goto-char (point-min))
           (cond
-           ((looking-at-p "exube") "exuberant ctags")
-           ((looking-at-p "GNU E") "emacs etags")))
+           ((search-forward "exube" nil t) "exuberant ctags")
+           ((search-forward "GNU E" nil t) "emacs etags")))
       ;; Return nil if the etags binary isn't executable (Bug#25468).
       (file-error nil))))