diff --git a/base/show.jl b/base/show.jl
index 301fa3c9171a9..b7b1a77032257 100644
--- a/base/show.jl
+++ b/base/show.jl
@@ -1363,7 +1363,7 @@ function alignment(io::IO, x::Real)
 end
 "`alignment(1 + 10im)` yields (3,5) for `1 +` and `_10im` (plus sign on left, space on right)"
 function alignment(io::IO, x::Complex)
-    m = match(r"^(.*[\+\-])(.*)$", sprint(0, show, x, env=io))
+    m = match(r"^(.*[^e][\+\-])(.*)$", sprint(0, show, x, env=io))
     m === nothing ? (length(sprint(0, show, x, env=io)), 0) :
                    (length(m.captures[1]), length(m.captures[2]))
 end
diff --git a/test/complex.jl b/test/complex.jl
index 161222835a686..40171cd00a602 100644
--- a/test/complex.jl
+++ b/test/complex.jl
@@ -963,3 +963,14 @@ end
     x = @inferred expm1(0.1f0im)
     @test x isa Complex64
 end
+
+@testset "array printing with exponent format" begin
+    a = [1.0 + 1e-10im, 2.0e-15 - 2.0e-5im, 1.0e-15 + 2im, 1.0 + 2e-15im]
+    @test sprint((io, x) -> show(io, MIME("text/plain"), x), a) ==
+        join([
+            "4-element Array{Complex{Float64},1}:",
+            "     1.0+1.0e-10im",
+            " 2.0e-15-2.0e-5im ",
+            " 1.0e-15+2.0im    ",
+            "     1.0+2.0e-15im"], "\n")
+end