diff --git a/gallery_dl/util.py b/gallery_dl/util.py
index 657f66ba..078bb1cb 100644
--- a/gallery_dl/util.py
+++ b/gallery_dl/util.py
@@ -79,7 +79,7 @@ def contains(values, elements):
     if isinstance(values, str):
         fmt = r"\b{}\b".format
         for e in elements:
-            if re.search(fmt(e), values):
+            if re.compile(fmt(re.escape(e))).search(values):
                 return True
     else:
         for e in elements:
diff --git a/test/test_util.py b/test/test_util.py
index b7684601..da0724a1 100644
--- a/test/test_util.py
+++ b/test/test_util.py
@@ -328,9 +328,8 @@ class TestOther(unittest.TestCase):
         self.assertFalse(util.contains(c, "bar"))
         self.assertFalse(util.contains(c, [2, 5, "bar"]))
 
-        s = "1, 2, 3, asd, qwe, yxc, foo, bar"
-        self.assertTrue(util.contains(s, 2))
-        self.assertTrue(util.contains(s, "asd"))
+        s = "1, 2, 3, asd, qwe, y(+)c, f(+)(-), bar"
+        self.assertTrue(util.contains(s, "y(+)c"))
         self.assertTrue(util.contains(s, ["asd", "qwe", "yxc"]))
         self.assertTrue(util.contains(s, ["sdf", "dfg", "qwe"]))
         self.assertFalse(util.contains(s, "tag1"))