diff --git a/testing/test_doctest.py b/testing/test_doctest.py
index 02f4c3b26..72ba0a622 100644
--- a/testing/test_doctest.py
+++ b/testing/test_doctest.py
@@ -145,8 +145,8 @@ class TestDoctests:
             doctest_encoding={0}
         """.format(encoding))
         doctest = u"""
-            >>> u"{}"
-            {}
+            >>> u"{0}"
+            {1}
         """.format(test_string, repr(test_string))
         testdir._makefile(".txt", [doctest], {}, encoding=encoding)