diff --git a/test/link/test.sh b/test/link/test.sh
index 73c13ab3..a4c39ab2 100755
--- a/test/link/test.sh
+++ b/test/link/test.sh
@@ -60,8 +60,7 @@ tryCmp () {
 }
 
 tryCmpRom () {
-	# `printf` lets us keep only the first returned word from `wc`.
-	rom_size=$(printf %s $(wc -c <"$1"))
+	rom_size=$(wc -c <"$1")
 	# 'rgblink -x' implies '-t', so we cannot use '-x' to trim the ROM output
 	dd if="$gbtemp" count=1 bs="$rom_size" >"$otemp" 2>/dev/null
 	tryCmp "$1" "$otemp"