diff --git a/salt/soc/defaults.yaml b/salt/soc/defaults.yaml
index f5628f3c3..f0d028fdb 100644
--- a/salt/soc/defaults.yaml
+++ b/salt/soc/defaults.yaml
@@ -2261,7 +2261,7 @@ soc:
                 meta:
                   description = "";
                 strings:
-                  $x = \"string\";
+                  $x = "string";
                 condition:
                   all of them;
               }