diff --git a/testing/test_pdb.py b/testing/test_pdb.py
index 70a5c3c5b..a565cbd0d 100644
--- a/testing/test_pdb.py
+++ b/testing/test_pdb.py
@@ -338,7 +338,7 @@ class TestPDB(object):
         self.flush(child)
 
     def test_pdb_collection_failure_is_shown(self, testdir):
-        p1 = testdir.makepyfile("""xxx """)
+        p1 = testdir.makepyfile("xxx")
         result = testdir.runpytest_subprocess("--pdb", p1)
         result.stdout.fnmatch_lines([
             "*NameError*xxx*",