diff --git a/contrib/check-config.sh b/contrib/check-config.sh
index 5b0abb515c..539f8cc000 100755
--- a/contrib/check-config.sh
+++ b/contrib/check-config.sh
@@ -60,8 +60,7 @@ color() {
 			white) code=37 ;;
 		esac
 		if [ "$code" ]; then
-			[ "$codes" ] && codes="$codes "
-			codes="$codes$code"
+			codes="${codes:+$codes;}$code"
 		fi
 	fi
 	oldIFS=$IFS