Using non-greedy quantifiers with substitute()

I'm having problems with a plugin and I've narrowed it down to one line. If I write:

echo substitute("#|\nmulti-line comment\n|#","#|.*|#","","g")

the substitution happens like expected. But if I use a non-greedy quantifier I get the original string unchanged

echo  substitute("#|\nmulti-line comment\n|#","#|.\{-}|#","","g")

--
--
You received this message from the "vim_use" maillist.
Do not top-post! Type your reply below the text you are replying to.
For more information, visit http://www.vim.org/maillist.php

---
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "vim_use" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to vim_use+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com.
To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/vim_use/dd3b2557-353c-4bb6-8f0e-19f566e0c4b2%40googlegroups.com.