diff --git a/careful/bin/check-careful.sh b/careful/bin/check-careful.sh
index c8bc2c7abe..d9c39e48c8 100755
--- a/careful/bin/check-careful.sh
+++ b/careful/bin/check-careful.sh
@@ -28,7 +28,7 @@ CMD_LOWER=$(printf '%s' "$CMD" | tr '[:upper:]' '[:lower:]')
 # --- Check for safe exceptions (rm -rf of build artifacts) ---
 if printf '%s' "$CMD" | grep -qE 'rm\s+(-[a-zA-Z]*r[a-zA-Z]*\s+|--recursive\s+)' 2>/dev/null; then
   SAFE_ONLY=true
-  RM_ARGS=$(printf '%s' "$CMD" | sed -E 's/.*rm\s+(-[a-zA-Z]+\s+)*//;s/--recursive\s*//')
+  RM_ARGS=$(printf '%s' "$CMD" | sed -E 's/.*rm[[:space:]]+(-[a-zA-Z]+[[:space:]]+)*//;s/--recursive[[:space:]]*//')
   for target in $RM_ARGS; do
     case "$target" in
       */node_modules|node_modules|*/\.next|\.next|*/dist|dist|*/__pycache__|__pycache__|*/\.cache|\.cache|*/build|build|*/\.turbo|\.turbo|*/coverage|coverage)
diff --git a/test/hook-scripts.test.ts b/test/hook-scripts.test.ts
index 850b5b983a..f1ffe12397 100644
--- a/test/hook-scripts.test.ts
+++ b/test/hook-scripts.test.ts
@@ -56,13 +56,6 @@ function withFreezeDir(freezePath: string, fn: (stateDir: string) => void) {
   }
 }
 
-// Detect whether the safe-rm-targets regex works on this platform.
-// macOS sed -E does not support \s, so the safe exception check fails there.
-function detectSafeRmWorks(): boolean {
-  const { output } = runHook(CAREFUL_SCRIPT, carefulInput('rm -rf node_modules'));
-  return output.permissionDecision === undefined;
-}
-
 // ============================================================
 // check-careful.sh tests
 // ============================================================
@@ -88,24 +81,13 @@ describe('check-careful.sh', () => {
     test('rm -rf node_modules allows (safe exception)', () => {
       const { exitCode, output } = runHook(CAREFUL_SCRIPT, carefulInput('rm -rf node_modules'));
       expect(exitCode).toBe(0);
-      if (detectSafeRmWorks()) {
-        // GNU sed: safe exception triggers, allows through
-        expect(output.permissionDecision).toBeUndefined();
-      } else {
-        // macOS sed: safe exception regex uses \\s which is unsupported,
-        // so the safe-targets check fails and the command warns
-        expect(output.permissionDecision).toBe('ask');
-      }
+      expect(output.permissionDecision).toBeUndefined();
     });
 
     test('rm -rf .next dist allows (multiple safe targets)', () => {
       const { exitCode, output } = runHook(CAREFUL_SCRIPT, carefulInput('rm -rf .next dist'));
       expect(exitCode).toBe(0);
-      if (detectSafeRmWorks()) {
-        expect(output.permissionDecision).toBeUndefined();
-      } else {
-        expect(output.permissionDecision).toBe('ask');
-      }
+      expect(output.permissionDecision).toBeUndefined();
     });
 
     test('rm -rf node_modules /var/data warns (mixed safe+unsafe)', () => {