diff --git a/Library/Homebrew/utils/shell.rb b/Library/Homebrew/utils/shell.rb
index 8066702bf5..a6f233a259 100644
--- a/Library/Homebrew/utils/shell.rb
+++ b/Library/Homebrew/utils/shell.rb
@@ -39,8 +39,8 @@ module Utils
 
     # return the shell profile file based on user's preferred shell
     def profile
-      return "#{ENV["ZDOTDIR"]}/.zshrc" if preferred == "zsh" && ENV["ZDOTDIR"].present?
-      
+      return "#{ENV["ZDOTDIR"]}/.zshrc" if preferred == :zsh && ENV["ZDOTDIR"].present?
+
       SHELL_PROFILE_MAP.fetch(preferred, "~/.bash_profile")
     end