diff --git a/src/usr/local/bin/validate_workflow.sh b/src/usr/local/bin/validate_workflow.sh
index 4dcb176f6c35c9a1f390df4e665da71f5c6b622e..c573fa443af8046992a1954baaa9bd7809fd06cd 100755
--- a/src/usr/local/bin/validate_workflow.sh
+++ b/src/usr/local/bin/validate_workflow.sh
@@ -322,7 +322,7 @@ get_cli_args() {
         mkdir -p "${cachedir}" || error "Could not create dir ${cachedir}, $?"
     fi
     if [[ -e "${STATFILE}" ]]; then
-        lines=$( flock -x "${LOCKFILE}" wc -l "${STATFILE}" | cut -d " " -f 1)
+        lines=$(flock -x "${LOCKFILE}" wc -l "${STATFILE}" | cut -d " " -f 1)
         debug "found ${lines} lines in ${STATFILE})"
         if [[ "${lines}" -gt "${MAX_STAT_LINES}" ]]; then
             (