diff --git a/src/_utils/_git_secret_tools.sh b/src/_utils/_git_secret_tools.sh
index 87209f7a..530215c8 100644
--- a/src/_utils/_git_secret_tools.sh
+++ b/src/_utils/_git_secret_tools.sh
@@ -620,10 +620,10 @@ function _get_users_in_gpg_keyring {
     args+=( "--homedir" "$homedir" )
   fi
 
-  # pluck out 'uid' lines, fetch 10th field, extract part in <> if it exists (else leave alone).
   # we use --fixed-list-mode so older versions of gpg emit 'uid:' lines.
-  # sed at the end is to extract email from <>. (If there's no <>, then the line is just an email address anyway.)
-  result=$($SECRETS_GPG_COMMAND "${args[@]}" --no-permission-warning --list-public-keys --with-colon --fixed-list-mode | grep ^uid: | cut -d: -f10 | sed 's/.*<\(.*\)>.*/\1/')
+  # here gawk splits on colon as --with-colon, exact matches field 1 as 'uid', and selects field 10 "User-ID" 
+  # the gensub regex extracts email from <> within field 10. (If there's no <>, then field is just an email address anyway and the regex just passes it through.)
+  result=$($SECRETS_GPG_COMMAND "${args[@]}" --no-permission-warning --list-public-keys --with-colon --fixed-list-mode | gawk -F: '$1~/uid/{print gensub(/.*<(.*)>.*/, "\\1", "g", $10); }')
 
   echo "$result"
 }