diff --git a/Library/Homebrew/utils.rb b/Library/Homebrew/utils.rb
index d4e8fa2536..b440a9553f 100644
--- a/Library/Homebrew/utils.rb
+++ b/Library/Homebrew/utils.rb
@@ -437,13 +437,13 @@ module Kernel
     n_back_bytes = max_bytes_in - n_front_bytes
     if n_front_bytes.zero?
       front = bytes[1..0]
-      back = bytes[-max_bytes_in..-1]
+      back = bytes[-max_bytes_in..]
     elsif n_back_bytes.zero?
       front = bytes[0..(max_bytes_in - 1)]
       back = bytes[1..0]
     else
       front = bytes[0..(n_front_bytes - 1)]
-      back = bytes[-n_back_bytes..-1]
+      back = bytes[-n_back_bytes..]
     end
     out = front + glue_bytes + back
     out.force_encoding("UTF-8")