diff --git a/doc/cross-compilation.xml b/doc/cross-compilation.xml
index f496fa3f8967..93fe9095ce2f 100644
--- a/doc/cross-compilation.xml
+++ b/doc/cross-compilation.xml
@@ -271,14 +271,14 @@
   <para>
    Nixpkgs can be instantiated with <varname>localSystem</varname> alone, in which case there is no cross-compiling and everything is built by and for that system, or also with <varname>crossSystem</varname>, in which case packages run on the latter, but all building happens on the former. Both parameters take the same schema as the 3 (build, host, and target) platforms defined in the previous section. As mentioned above, <literal>lib.systems.examples</literal> has some platforms which are used as arguments for these parameters in practice. You can use them programmatically, or on the command line:
 <programlisting>
-nix-build &lt;nixpkgs&gt; --arg crossSystem '(import &lt;nixpkgs/lib&gt;).systems.examples.fooBarBaz' -A whatever</programlisting>
+nix-build '&lt;nixpkgs&gt;' --arg crossSystem '(import &lt;nixpkgs/lib&gt;).systems.examples.fooBarBaz' -A whatever</programlisting>
   </para>
 
   <note>
    <para>
     Eventually we would like to make these platform examples an unnecessary convenience so that
 <programlisting>
-nix-build &lt;nixpkgs&gt; --arg crossSystem '{ config = "&lt;arch&gt;-&lt;os&gt;-&lt;vendor&gt;-&lt;abi&gt;"; }' -A whatever</programlisting>
+nix-build '&lt;nixpkgs&gt;' --arg crossSystem '{ config = "&lt;arch&gt;-&lt;os&gt;-&lt;vendor&gt;-&lt;abi&gt;"; }' -A whatever</programlisting>
     works in the vast majority of cases. The problem today is dependencies on other sorts of configuration which aren't given proper defaults. We rely on the examples to crudely to set those configuration parameters in some vaguely sane manner on the users behalf. Issue <link xlink:href="https://github.com/NixOS/nixpkgs/issues/34274">#34274</link> tracks this inconvenience along with its root cause in crufty configuration options.
    </para>
   </note>