diff --git a/include/util/regex_collection.hpp b/include/util/regex_collection.hpp
index 5ea2882e..fe958461 100644
--- a/include/util/regex_collection.hpp
+++ b/include/util/regex_collection.hpp
@@ -36,7 +36,7 @@ class RegexCollection {
   std::map<std::string, std::string> regex_cache;
   std::string default_repr;
 
-  std::string& find_match(std::string& value, bool& matched_any);
+  std::string find_match(std::string& value, bool& matched_any);
 
  public:
   RegexCollection() = default;
@@ -48,4 +48,4 @@ class RegexCollection {
   std::string& get(std::string& value);
 };
 
-}  // namespace waybar::util
\ No newline at end of file
+}  // namespace waybar::util
diff --git a/src/util/regex_collection.cpp b/src/util/regex_collection.cpp
index 704d6545..db2f30ea 100644
--- a/src/util/regex_collection.cpp
+++ b/src/util/regex_collection.cpp
@@ -31,11 +31,12 @@ RegexCollection::RegexCollection(const Json::Value& map, std::string default_rep
   std::sort(rules.begin(), rules.end(), [](Rule& a, Rule& b) { return a.priority > b.priority; });
 }
 
-std::string& RegexCollection::find_match(std::string& value, bool& matched_any) {
+std::string RegexCollection::find_match(std::string& value, bool& matched_any) {
   for (auto& rule : rules) {
-    if (std::regex_search(value, rule.rule)) {
+    std::smatch match;
+    if (std::regex_search(value, match, rule.rule)) {
       matched_any = true;
-      return rule.repr;
+      return match.format(rule.repr.data());
     }
   }