diff --git a/examples/common/env.sh b/examples/common/env.sh
index 39b29de261d..2416d0aa6c1 100644
--- a/examples/common/env.sh
+++ b/examples/common/env.sh
@@ -32,8 +32,8 @@ done;
 
 # vtctldclient has a separate alias setup below
 for binary in vttablet vtgate vtctld mysqlctl vtorc vtctl; do
-  $binary --version | grep -q "19\.[0-9]*\.[0-9]*"
-  if [[ "$?" -eq "0" ]]; then
+  BINARY_VERSION=$($binary --version | grep -o "Version: 1[0-9]\.[0-9]*\.[0-9]*" | awk '{print $2}')
+  if [[ "${BINARY_VERSION}" =~ 19.0.[0-9]* ]]; then
     alias $binary="$binary --config-file-not-found-handling=ignore"
   fi
 done;