diff --git a/lib/rdoc/cross_reference.rb b/lib/rdoc/cross_reference.rb
index 99a64cd99a..4a6abfa3ac 100644
--- a/lib/rdoc/cross_reference.rb
+++ b/lib/rdoc/cross_reference.rb
@@ -19,7 +19,7 @@ class RDoc::CrossReference
   #
   # See CLASS_REGEXP_STR
 
-  METHOD_REGEXP_STR = '([a-z]\w*[!?=]?|%|===|\[\]=?|<<|>>|\+@|-@|-|\+|\*)(?:\([\w.+*/=<>-]*\))?'
+  METHOD_REGEXP_STR = '([a-z]\w*[!?=]?|%|===?|\[\]=?|<<|>>|\+@|-@|-|\+|\*)(?:\([\w.+*/=<>-]*\))?'
 
   ##
   # Regular expressions matching text that should potentially have
diff --git a/test/rdoc/test_rdoc_cross_reference.rb b/test/rdoc/test_rdoc_cross_reference.rb
index 183de0930d..94ddc1e1e4 100644
--- a/test/rdoc/test_rdoc_cross_reference.rb
+++ b/test/rdoc/test_rdoc_cross_reference.rb
@@ -20,7 +20,7 @@ def refute_ref name
   def test_METHOD_REGEXP_STR
     re = /#{RDoc::CrossReference::METHOD_REGEXP_STR}/
 
-    %w'=== [] []= << >>'.each do |x|
+    %w'== === [] []= << >>'.each do |x|
       re =~ x
       assert_equal x, $&
     end