diff --git a/bitbake/doc/bitbake-user-manual/bitbake-user-manual-hello.xml b/bitbake/doc/bitbake-user-manual/bitbake-user-manual-hello.xml
index f6d82b4f3f..8b7edbff54 100644
--- a/bitbake/doc/bitbake-user-manual/bitbake-user-manual-hello.xml
+++ b/bitbake/doc/bitbake-user-manual/bitbake-user-manual-hello.xml
@@ -399,7 +399,7 @@ ERROR: Unable to parse base: ParseError in configuration INHERITs: Could not inh
      <link linkend='var-BBFILES'>BBFILES</link> += "${LAYERDIR}/*.bb"
 
      <link linkend='var-BBFILE_COLLECTIONS'>BBFILE_COLLECTIONS</link> += "mylayer"
-     <link linkend='var-BBFILE_PATTERN'>BBFILE_PATTERN_mylayer</link> := "^${LAYERDIR}/"
+     <link linkend='var-BBFILE_PATTERN'>BBFILE_PATTERN_mylayer</link> := "^${LAYERDIR_RE}/"
                 </literallayout>
                 For information on these variables, click the links
                 to go to the definitions in the glossary.</para>
diff --git a/bitbake/doc/bitbake-user-manual/bitbake-user-manual-ref-variables.xml b/bitbake/doc/bitbake-user-manual/bitbake-user-manual-ref-variables.xml
index ae7e4cee8c..4d06ff950c 100644
--- a/bitbake/doc/bitbake-user-manual/bitbake-user-manual-ref-variables.xml
+++ b/bitbake/doc/bitbake-user-manual/bitbake-user-manual-ref-variables.xml
@@ -1636,6 +1636,17 @@
             </glossdef>
         </glossentry>
 
+        <glossentry id='var-LAYERDIR_RE'><glossterm>LAYERDIR_RE</glossterm>
+            <glossdef>
+                <para>When used inside the <filename>layer.conf</filename> configuration
+                    file, this variable provides the path of the current layer,
+                    escaped for use in a regular expression
+                    (<link linkend='var-BBFILE_PATTERN'><filename>BBFILE_PATTERN</filename></link>).
+                    This variable is not available outside of <filename>layer.conf</filename>
+                    and references are expanded immediately when parsing of the file completes.</para>
+            </glossdef>
+        </glossentry>
+
         <glossentry id='var-LAYERVERSION'><glossterm>LAYERVERSION</glossterm>
             <glossdef>
                 <para>Optionally specifies the version of a layer as a single number.
diff --git a/bitbake/lib/bb/cookerdata.py b/bitbake/lib/bb/cookerdata.py
index fba95afa54..1615db5b17 100644
--- a/bitbake/lib/bb/cookerdata.py
+++ b/bitbake/lib/bb/cookerdata.py
@@ -22,9 +22,11 @@
 # with this program; if not, write to the Free Software Foundation, Inc.,
 # 51 Franklin Street, Fifth Floor, Boston, MA 02110-1301 USA.
 
-import os, sys
-from functools import wraps
 import logging
+import os
+import re
+import sys
+from functools import wraps
 import bb
 from bb import data
 import bb.parse
@@ -296,9 +298,12 @@ class CookerDataBuilder(object):
                 if layer.endswith('/'):
                     layer = layer.rstrip('/')
                 data.setVar('LAYERDIR', layer)
+                data.setVar('LAYERDIR_RE', re.escape(layer))
                 data = parse_config_file(os.path.join(layer, "conf", "layer.conf"), data)
                 data.expandVarref('LAYERDIR')
+                data.expandVarref('LAYERDIR_RE')
 
+            data.delVar('LAYERDIR_RE')
             data.delVar('LAYERDIR')
 
         if not data.getVar("BBPATH", True):