diff --git a/t/t4014-format-patch.sh b/t/t4014-format-patch.sh
index 83f5261..72b0989 100755
--- a/t/t4014-format-patch.sh
+++ b/t/t4014-format-patch.sh
@@ -1610,8 +1610,9 @@
 	test_config format.outputDirectory patches &&
 	rm -fr patches &&
 	git format-patch master..side &&
-	git rev-list master..side >list &&
-	test_line_count = $(ls patches | wc -l) list
+	count=$(git rev-list --count master..side) &&
+	ls patches >list &&
+	test_line_count = $count list
 '
 
 test_expect_success 'format-patch -o overrides format.outputDirectory' '