diff --git a/t/t5401-update-hooks.sh b/t/t5401-update-hooks.sh
index 3eea3069ebcc20f98bb563af409bb1e15b6e9f54..9734fc542f821c3659321be4c9ffa76ffd88a888 100755
--- a/t/t5401-update-hooks.sh
+++ b/t/t5401-update-hooks.sh
@@ -25,7 +25,7 @@ test_expect_success setup '
 
 cat >victim/.git/hooks/pre-receive <<'EOF'
 #!/bin/sh
-printf "$@" >>$GIT_DIR/pre-receive.args
+printf %s "$@" >>$GIT_DIR/pre-receive.args
 cat - >$GIT_DIR/pre-receive.stdin
 echo STDOUT pre-receive
 echo STDERR pre-receive >&2
@@ -35,7 +35,7 @@ chmod u+x victim/.git/hooks/pre-receive
 cat >victim/.git/hooks/update <<'EOF'
 #!/bin/sh
 echo "$@" >>$GIT_DIR/update.args
-read x; printf "$x" >$GIT_DIR/update.stdin
+read x; printf %s "$x" >$GIT_DIR/update.stdin
 echo STDOUT update $1
 echo STDERR update $1 >&2
 test "$1" = refs/heads/master || exit
@@ -44,7 +44,7 @@ chmod u+x victim/.git/hooks/update
 
 cat >victim/.git/hooks/post-receive <<'EOF'
 #!/bin/sh
-printf "$@" >>$GIT_DIR/post-receive.args
+printf %s "$@" >>$GIT_DIR/post-receive.args
 cat - >$GIT_DIR/post-receive.stdin
 echo STDOUT post-receive
 echo STDERR post-receive >&2
@@ -54,7 +54,7 @@ chmod u+x victim/.git/hooks/post-receive
 cat >victim/.git/hooks/post-update <<'EOF'
 #!/bin/sh
 echo "$@" >>$GIT_DIR/post-update.args
-read x; printf "$x" >$GIT_DIR/post-update.stdin
+read x; printf %s "$x" >$GIT_DIR/post-update.stdin
 echo STDOUT post-update
 echo STDERR post-update >&2
 EOF