diff --git a/vcsh b/vcsh
index b5b6621ff6e03dea722a0ba0320ebd2c40bd9e5e..b54ecb42ef1e18b7b06395b7c294b909a5bc6f37 100755
--- a/vcsh
+++ b/vcsh
@@ -334,8 +334,8 @@ write_gitignore() {
 		fatal "could not move '$tempfile' to '$VCSH_BASE/.gitignore.d/$VCSH_REPO_NAME'" 53
 }
 
-if [ ! "x$VCSH_GITIGNORE" = 'xexact' ] && [ ! "x$VCSH_GITIGNORE" = 'xrecursive' ] && [ ! "x$VCSH_GITIGNORE" = 'xnone' ]; then
-	fatal "'\$VCSH_GITIGNORE' must equal 'exact', 'recursive', or 'none'" 1
+if [ ! "x$VCSH_GITIGNORE" = 'xexact' ] && [ ! "x$VCSH_GITIGNORE" = 'xnone' ] && [ ! "x$VCSH_GITIGNORE" = 'xrecursive' ]; then
+	fatal "'\$VCSH_GITIGNORE' must equal 'exact', 'none', or 'recursive'" 1
 fi
 
 if [ "$1" = 'clone' ]; then