diff --git a/tests/local.at b/tests/local.at
index 5027ec55..14cd448c 100644
--- a/tests/local.at
+++ b/tests/local.at
@@ -58,7 +58,7 @@ m4_define([AT_DATA_NO_FINAL_EOL],
 [AT_DATA([$1], [$2
 ])
 AT_REQUIRE([
-set x $(LC_ALL=C ls -l '$1') &&
+set x `LC_ALL=C ls -l '$1'` &&
   size=$][6 &&
   { test $size -eq 0 || dd obs=1 seek=`expr $size - 1` if=/dev/null of='$1'; }],
   [], [ignore], [ignore])