diff --git a/tests/checks/test.fish b/tests/checks/test.fish
index b7f1ed6f8..bd88e52c3 100644
--- a/tests/checks/test.fish
+++ b/tests/checks/test.fish
@@ -66,7 +66,7 @@ touch -m -t 190212112045.40 old
 touch -m -t 190112112040.39 oldest
 touch -m -t 203801080314.07 newest
 
-if string match -qr '^(0|'(stat -c %Y epoch)')$' (stat -c %Y oldest)
+if string match -qr '^(0|'(stat -c %Y epoch)')$' -- (stat -c %Y oldest)
     # Filesystem does not support dates older than epoch, so silently skip this test - there's no
     # guarantee that an FS supports pre-epoch timestamps and lxfs (virtual WSLv1 fs) doesn't.
 else