diff --git a/utils/lint/remove_trailing_whitespace.sh b/utils/lint/remove_trailing_whitespace.sh
index de58dbab7fc..6e0c9be0932 100755
--- a/utils/lint/remove_trailing_whitespace.sh
+++ b/utils/lint/remove_trailing_whitespace.sh
@@ -3,4 +3,4 @@
 # Sample syntax:
 #   $0 *.cpp
 
-perl -pi -e "s/\s+\$//" $*
+perl -pi -e 's/\s+$/\n/' $*