diff --git a/t/t3404-rebase-interactive.sh b/t/t3404-rebase-interactive.sh
index f171af3061..7ce7523780 100755
--- a/t/t3404-rebase-interactive.sh
+++ b/t/t3404-rebase-interactive.sh
@@ -1917,18 +1917,17 @@ test_expect_success '--update-refs updates refs correctly' '
 	test_cmp_rev HEAD~1 refs/heads/third &&
 	test_cmp_rev HEAD refs/heads/no-conflict-branch &&
 
-	cat >expect <<-\EOF &&
+	q_to_tab >expect <<-\EOF &&
 	Successfully rebased and updated refs/heads/update-refs.
 	Updated the following refs with --update-refs:
-		refs/heads/first
-		refs/heads/no-conflict-branch
-		refs/heads/second
-		refs/heads/third
+	Qrefs/heads/first
+	Qrefs/heads/no-conflict-branch
+	Qrefs/heads/second
+	Qrefs/heads/third
 	EOF
 
 	# Clear "Rebasing (X/Y)" progress lines and drop leading tabs.
-	sed -e "s/Rebasing.*Successfully/Successfully/g" -e "s/^\t//g" \
-		<err >err.trimmed &&
+	sed "s/Rebasing.*Successfully/Successfully/g" <err >err.trimmed &&
 	test_cmp expect err.trimmed
 '
 
@@ -2178,19 +2177,18 @@ test_expect_success '--update-refs: check failed ref update' '
 	test_must_fail git rebase --continue 2>err &&
 	grep "update_ref failed for ref '\''refs/heads/second'\''" err &&
 
-	cat >expect <<-\EOF &&
+	q_to_tab >expect <<-\EOF &&
 	Updated the following refs with --update-refs:
-		refs/heads/first
-		refs/heads/no-conflict-branch
-		refs/heads/third
+	Qrefs/heads/first
+	Qrefs/heads/no-conflict-branch
+	Qrefs/heads/third
 	Failed to update the following refs with --update-refs:
-		refs/heads/second
+	Qrefs/heads/second
 	EOF
 
 	# Clear "Rebasing (X/Y)" progress lines and drop leading tabs.
 	tail -n 6 err >err.last &&
-	sed -e "s/Rebasing.*Successfully/Successfully/g" -e "s/^\t//g" \
-		<err.last >err.trimmed &&
+	sed "s/Rebasing.*Successfully/Successfully/g" <err.last >err.trimmed &&
 	test_cmp expect err.trimmed
 '