diff --git a/scour/scour.py b/scour/scour.py
index afee25d..754e5dd 100644
--- a/scour/scour.py
+++ b/scour/scour.py
@@ -1381,22 +1381,27 @@ def removeDuplicateGradients(doc):
       for dupGrad in gradientsToRemove[masterGrad]:
          # if the duplicate gradient no longer has a parent that means it was
          # already re-mapped to another master gradient
-         if not dupGrad.parentNode: continue
+         if not dupGrad.parentNode:
+            continue
+
+         # for each element that referenced the gradient we are going to replace dup_id with master_id
          dup_id = dupGrad.getAttribute('id')
-         # for each element that referenced the gradient we are going to remove
+         funcIRI = re.compile('url\([\'"]?#' + dup_id + '[\'"]?\)') # matches url(#a), url('#a') and url("#a")
          for elem in referencedIDs[dup_id][1]:
             # find out which attribute referenced the duplicate gradient
             for attr in ['fill', 'stroke']:
                v = elem.getAttribute(attr)
-               if v == 'url(#'+dup_id+')' or v == 'url("#'+dup_id+'")' or v == "url('#"+dup_id+"')":
-                  elem.setAttribute(attr, 'url(#'+master_id+')')
+               (v_new, n) = funcIRI.subn('url(#'+master_id+')', v)
+               if n > 0:
+                  elem.setAttribute(attr, v_new)
             if elem.getAttributeNS(NS['XLINK'], 'href') == '#'+dup_id:
                elem.setAttributeNS(NS['XLINK'], 'href', '#'+master_id)
             styles = _getStyle(elem)
             for style in styles:
                v = styles[style]
-               if v == 'url(#'+dup_id+')' or v == 'url("#'+dup_id+'")' or v == "url('#"+dup_id+"')":
-                  styles[style] = 'url(#'+master_id+')'
+               (v_new, n) = funcIRI.subn('url(#'+master_id+')', v)
+               if n > 0:
+                  styles[style] = v_new
             _setStyle(elem, styles)
 
          # now that all referencing elements have been re-mapped to the master