valid_ref() {
        prereq=
        case $1 in
-       [A-Z]*)
+       [A-Z!]*)
                prereq=$1
                shift
        esac
 invalid_ref() {
        prereq=
        case $1 in
-       [A-Z]*)
+       [A-Z!]*)
                prereq=$1
                shift
        esac
 }
 
 invalid_ref ''
-invalid_ref NOT_MINGW '/'
-invalid_ref NOT_MINGW '/' --allow-onelevel
-invalid_ref NOT_MINGW '/' --normalize
-invalid_ref NOT_MINGW '/' '--allow-onelevel --normalize'
+invalid_ref !MINGW '/'
+invalid_ref !MINGW '/' --allow-onelevel
+invalid_ref !MINGW '/' --normalize
+invalid_ref !MINGW '/' '--allow-onelevel --normalize'
 valid_ref 'foo/bar/baz'
 valid_ref 'foo/bar/baz' --normalize
 invalid_ref 'refs///heads/foo'
 valid_ref 'refs///heads/foo' --normalize
 invalid_ref 'heads/foo/'
-invalid_ref NOT_MINGW '/heads/foo'
-valid_ref NOT_MINGW '/heads/foo' --normalize
+invalid_ref !MINGW '/heads/foo'
+valid_ref !MINGW '/heads/foo' --normalize
 invalid_ref '///heads/foo'
 valid_ref '///heads/foo' --normalize
 invalid_ref './foo'
 invalid_ref "$ref" '--refspec-pattern --allow-onelevel'
 
 ref='/foo'
-invalid_ref NOT_MINGW "$ref"
-invalid_ref NOT_MINGW "$ref" --allow-onelevel
-invalid_ref NOT_MINGW "$ref" --refspec-pattern
-invalid_ref NOT_MINGW "$ref" '--refspec-pattern --allow-onelevel'
-invalid_ref NOT_MINGW "$ref" --normalize
-valid_ref NOT_MINGW "$ref" '--allow-onelevel --normalize'
-invalid_ref NOT_MINGW "$ref" '--refspec-pattern --normalize'
-valid_ref NOT_MINGW "$ref" '--refspec-pattern --allow-onelevel --normalize'
+invalid_ref !MINGW "$ref"
+invalid_ref !MINGW "$ref" --allow-onelevel
+invalid_ref !MINGW "$ref" --refspec-pattern
+invalid_ref !MINGW "$ref" '--refspec-pattern --allow-onelevel'
+invalid_ref !MINGW "$ref" --normalize
+valid_ref !MINGW "$ref" '--allow-onelevel --normalize'
+invalid_ref !MINGW "$ref" '--refspec-pattern --normalize'
+valid_ref !MINGW "$ref" '--refspec-pattern --allow-onelevel --normalize'
 
 test_expect_success "check-ref-format --branch @{-1}" '
        T=$(git write-tree) &&
 valid_ref_normalized() {
        prereq=
        case $1 in
-       [A-Z]*)
+       [A-Z!]*)
                prereq=$1
                shift
        esac
 invalid_ref_normalized() {
        prereq=
        case $1 in
-       [A-Z]*)
+       [A-Z!]*)
                prereq=$1
                shift
        esac
 
 valid_ref_normalized 'heads/foo' 'heads/foo'
 valid_ref_normalized 'refs///heads/foo' 'refs/heads/foo'
-valid_ref_normalized NOT_MINGW '/heads/foo' 'heads/foo'
+valid_ref_normalized !MINGW '/heads/foo' 'heads/foo'
 valid_ref_normalized '///heads/foo' 'heads/foo'
 invalid_ref_normalized 'foo'
-invalid_ref_normalized NOT_MINGW '/foo'
+invalid_ref_normalized !MINGW '/foo'
 invalid_ref_normalized 'heads/foo/../bar'
 invalid_ref_normalized 'heads/./foo'
 invalid_ref_normalized 'heads\foo'