diff --git a/tests/parsers/systemd_journal.py b/tests/parsers/systemd_journal.py
index 6679e6894b..32660866f4 100644
--- a/tests/parsers/systemd_journal.py
+++ b/tests/parsers/systemd_journal.py
@@ -124,8 +124,10 @@ def testParseCompactZSTD(self):
         'recovery_warning')
     self.assertEqual(number_of_warnings, 0)
 
+    expected_body = 'Some large string: {0:s}'.format('A' * 512)
+
     expected_event_values = {
-        'body': 'Some large string: ' + 'A'*512,
+        'body': expected_body,
         'data_type': 'systemd:journal',
         'hostname': 'DESKTOP-QCDE2BT',
         'pid': '197',