diff --git a/Library/Homebrew/utils/ruby.sh b/Library/Homebrew/utils/ruby.sh
index 1792359767..f26beaaaed 100644
--- a/Library/Homebrew/utils/ruby.sh
+++ b/Library/Homebrew/utils/ruby.sh
@@ -1,8 +1,15 @@
-test-ruby () {
-  [[ ! -x $1 ]] && { echo "false"; return 1; }
-  "$1" --enable-frozen-string-literal --disable=gems,did_you_mean,rubyopt -rrubygems -e \
+test_ruby () {
+  if [[ ! -x $1 ]]
+  then
+    return 1
+  fi
+
+  local ruby_status
+  ruby_status=$("$1" --enable-frozen-string-literal --disable=gems,did_you_mean,rubyopt -rrubygems -e \
     "puts Gem::Version.new(RUBY_VERSION.to_s.dup).to_s.split('.').first(2) == \
-          Gem::Version.new('$required_ruby_version').to_s.split('.').first(2)" 2>/dev/null
+          Gem::Version.new('$required_ruby_version').to_s.split('.').first(2)" 2>/dev/null)
+
+  test "$ruby_status" = true
 }
 
 setup-ruby-path() {
@@ -57,7 +64,7 @@ If there's no Homebrew Portable Ruby available for your processor:
       IFS=$'\n' # Do word splitting on new lines only
       for ruby_exec in $(which -a ruby) $(PATH=$HOMEBREW_PATH which -a ruby)
       do
-        if [[ $(test-ruby "$ruby_exec") == "true" ]]; then
+        if [[ $(test_ruby "$ruby_exec") == "true" ]]; then
           HOMEBREW_RUBY_PATH=$ruby_exec
           break
         fi
@@ -71,7 +78,7 @@ If there's no Homebrew Portable Ruby available for your processor:
       usable_ruby_version="true"
     elif [[ -n "$HOMEBREW_RUBY_PATH" && -z "$HOMEBREW_FORCE_VENDOR_RUBY" ]]
     then
-      usable_ruby_version=$(test-ruby "$HOMEBREW_RUBY_PATH")
+      usable_ruby_version=$(test_ruby "$HOMEBREW_RUBY_PATH")
     fi
 
     if [[ -z "$HOMEBREW_RUBY_PATH" || -n "$HOMEBREW_FORCE_VENDOR_RUBY" || "$usable_ruby_version" != "true" ]]