diff --git a/lib/perl5db.pl b/lib/perl5db.pl
index 71cdb4a1db..ba3e2f74ae 100644
--- a/lib/perl5db.pl
+++ b/lib/perl5db.pl
@@ -442,7 +442,7 @@ if (defined $ENV{PERLDB_PIDS}) {
   $term_pid = -1;
 } else {
   $ENV{PERLDB_PIDS} = "$$";
-  $pids = '';
+  $pids = "{pid=$$}";
   $term_pid = $$;
 }
 $pidprompt = '';