diff --git a/meson.build b/meson.build
index dfe1ff17b33..60e646ec9fb 100644
--- a/meson.build
+++ b/meson.build
@@ -669,8 +669,7 @@ gperf_test_format = '''
 const char * in_word_set(const char *, @0@);
 @1@
 '''
-gperf_snippet_format = 'echo foo,bar | @0@ -L ANSI-C'
-gperf_snippet = run_command(sh, '-c', gperf_snippet_format.format(gperf.path()),
+gperf_snippet = run_command(sh, '-c', 'echo foo,bar | "$1" -L ANSI-C', '_', gperf,
                             check : true)
 gperf_test = gperf_test_format.format('size_t', gperf_snippet.stdout())
 if cc.compiles(gperf_test)
diff --git a/test/meson.build b/test/meson.build
index f2e4ee09673..d4e1e3088d1 100644
--- a/test/meson.build
+++ b/test/meson.build
@@ -183,7 +183,7 @@ if want_tests != 'false' and dmi_arches.contains(host_machine.cpu_family())
                         check: true)
         else
                 out = run_command(
-                        sh, '-c', 'cd "@0@"; echo test/dmidecode-dumps/*.bin'.format(project_source_root),
+                        sh, '-c', 'cd "$1"; echo test/dmidecode-dumps/*.bin', '_', project_source_root,
                         check: true)
         endif