case "$1" in
 */COMMIT_EDITMSG)
        test -z "$EXPECT_HEADER_COUNT" ||
-               test "$EXPECT_HEADER_COUNT" = $(sed -n '1s/^# This is a combination of \(.*\) commits\./\1/p' < "$1") ||
+               test "$EXPECT_HEADER_COUNT" = "$(sed -n '1s/^# This is a combination of \(.*\) commits\./\1/p' < "$1")" ||
                exit
        test -z "$FAKE_COMMIT_MESSAGE" || echo "$FAKE_COMMIT_MESSAGE" > "$1"
        test -z "$FAKE_COMMIT_AMEND" || echo "$FAKE_COMMIT_AMEND" >> "$1"