diff --git a/cmd/kosli/snapshotECS.go b/cmd/kosli/snapshotECS.go
index 3d05372f4..aaeec4d5d 100644
--- a/cmd/kosli/snapshotECS.go
+++ b/cmd/kosli/snapshotECS.go
@@ -50,7 +50,7 @@ kosli snapshot ecs my-env \
 kosli snapshot ecs my-env --clusters my-cluster ...
 
 # include clusters matching a pattern in the AWS account
-kosli snapshot ecs my-env --clusters-regex "my-cluster-*" ...
+kosli snapshot ecs my-env --clusters-regex "^my-cluster-.*" ...
 
 # include clusters matching a list of names in the AWS account
 kosli snapshot ecs my-env --clusters my-cluster1,my-cluster2 ...
@@ -59,7 +59,7 @@ kosli snapshot ecs my-env --clusters my-cluster1,my-cluster2 ...
 kosli snapshot ecs my-env --exclude my-cluster ...
 
 # exclude clusters matching a pattern in the AWS account
-kosli snapshot ecs my-env --exclude-regex "my-cluster-*" ...
+kosli snapshot ecs my-env --exclude-regex "^my-cluster-.*" ...
 
 # exclude clusters matching a list of names in the AWS account
 kosli snapshot ecs my-env --exclude my-cluster1,my-cluster2 ...
@@ -68,10 +68,10 @@ kosli snapshot ecs my-env --exclude my-cluster1,my-cluster2 ...
 kosli snapshot ecs my-env --clusters my-cluster --services backend-app ...
 
 # include Services matching a pattern in one cluster
-kosli snapshot ecs my-env --clusters my-cluster --services-regex "backend-*" ...
+kosli snapshot ecs my-env --clusters my-cluster --services-regex "^backend-.*" ...
 
 # include production Services only (by naming convention) in all clusters in the AWS account
-kosli snapshot ecs my-env --services-regex "*-prod-*" ...
+kosli snapshot ecs my-env --services-regex ".*-prod-.*" ...
 
 # include Services matching a name in all clusters in the AWS account
 kosli snapshot ecs my-env --services backend-app ...
@@ -80,10 +80,10 @@ kosli snapshot ecs my-env --services backend-app ...
 kosli snapshot ecs my-env --services backend-app,frontend-app ...
 
 # exclude Services matching a pattern in one cluster
-kosli snapshot ecs my-env --clusters my-cluster --exclude-services-regex "backend-*" ...
+kosli snapshot ecs my-env --clusters my-cluster --exclude-services-regex "^backend-.*" ...
 
 # exclude Production services only (by naming convention)  in all clusters in the AWS account
-kosli snapshot ecs my-env --exclude-services-regex "*-prod-*" ...
+kosli snapshot ecs my-env --exclude-services-regex ".*-prod-.*" ...
 
 # exclude Services matching a name in one cluster
 kosli snapshot ecs my-env --clusters my-cluster --exclude-services backend-app ...
diff --git a/cmd/kosli/snapshotECS_test.go b/cmd/kosli/snapshotECS_test.go
index 415f335b0..9fcfdb540 100644
--- a/cmd/kosli/snapshotECS_test.go
+++ b/cmd/kosli/snapshotECS_test.go
@@ -2,9 +2,11 @@ package main
 
 import (
 	"fmt"
+	"regexp"
 	"testing"
 
 	"github.com/kosli-dev/cli/internal/testHelpers"
+	"github.com/stretchr/testify/require"
 	"github.com/stretchr/testify/suite"
 )
 
@@ -129,6 +131,18 @@ func (suite *SnapshotECSTestSuite) TestSnapshotECSCmd() {
 	}
 }
 
+// the --*-regex flags compile their values as Go regexes, so every regex
+// pattern shown in the help examples must actually compile
+func TestSnapshotECSExampleRegexesAreValid(t *testing.T) {
+	patterns := regexp.MustCompile(`--[a-z-]*regex "([^"]*)"`).FindAllStringSubmatch(snapshotECSExample, -1)
+	require.NotEmpty(t, patterns, "expected the examples to contain regex patterns")
+
+	for _, p := range patterns {
+		_, err := regexp.Compile(p[1])
+		require.NoError(t, err, "example regex %q does not compile", p[1])
+	}
+}
+
 // In order for 'go test' to run this suite, we need to create
 // a normal test function and pass our suite to suite.Run
 func TestSnapshotECSTestSuite(t *testing.T) {