diff --git a/t/t5550-http-fetch-dumb.sh b/t/t5550-http-fetch-dumb.sh
index 87a7aa04ae..64146352ae 100755
--- a/t/t5550-http-fetch-dumb.sh
+++ b/t/t5550-http-fetch-dumb.sh
@@ -132,7 +132,7 @@ test_expect_success 'fetch packed objects' '
 test_expect_success 'fetch notices corrupt pack' '
 	cp -R "$HTTPD_DOCUMENT_ROOT_PATH"/repo_pack.git "$HTTPD_DOCUMENT_ROOT_PATH"/repo_bad1.git &&
 	(cd "$HTTPD_DOCUMENT_ROOT_PATH"/repo_bad1.git &&
-	 p=`ls objects/pack/pack-*.pack` &&
+	 p=$(ls objects/pack/pack-*.pack) &&
 	 chmod u+w $p &&
 	 printf %0256d 0 | dd of=$p bs=256 count=1 seek=1 conv=notrunc
 	) &&
@@ -140,14 +140,14 @@ test_expect_success 'fetch notices corrupt pack' '
 	(cd repo_bad1.git &&
 	 git --bare init &&
 	 test_must_fail git --bare fetch $HTTPD_URL/dumb/repo_bad1.git &&
-	 test 0 = `ls objects/pack/pack-*.pack | wc -l`
+	 test 0 = $(ls objects/pack/pack-*.pack | wc -l)
 	)
 '
 
 test_expect_success 'fetch notices corrupt idx' '
 	cp -R "$HTTPD_DOCUMENT_ROOT_PATH"/repo_pack.git "$HTTPD_DOCUMENT_ROOT_PATH"/repo_bad2.git &&
 	(cd "$HTTPD_DOCUMENT_ROOT_PATH"/repo_bad2.git &&
-	 p=`ls objects/pack/pack-*.idx` &&
+	 p=$(ls objects/pack/pack-*.idx) &&
 	 chmod u+w $p &&
 	 printf %0256d 0 | dd of=$p bs=256 count=1 seek=1 conv=notrunc
 	) &&
@@ -155,7 +155,7 @@ test_expect_success 'fetch notices corrupt idx' '
 	(cd repo_bad2.git &&
 	 git --bare init &&
 	 test_must_fail git --bare fetch $HTTPD_URL/dumb/repo_bad2.git &&
-	 test 0 = `ls objects/pack | wc -l`
+	 test 0 = $(ls objects/pack | wc -l)
 	)
 '