diff --git a/tests/runtests.pl b/tests/runtests.pl
index 25a96c6e6a..487cc0d39d 100755
--- a/tests/runtests.pl
+++ b/tests/runtests.pl
@@ -3791,7 +3791,7 @@ sub singletest_precheck {
             my @o = `$cmd 2> $LOGDIR/precheck-$testnum`;
             if($o[0]) {
                 $why = $o[0];
-                chomp $why;
+                $why =~ s/[\r\n]//g;
             }
             elsif($?) {
                 $why = "precheck command error";