diff --git a/test/cmdlineargs.jl b/test/cmdlineargs.jl
index 51bba3f6534531..10fd82bb57d09a 100644
--- a/test/cmdlineargs.jl
+++ b/test/cmdlineargs.jl
@@ -110,13 +110,16 @@ let exename = `$(Base.julia_cmd()) --startup-file=no --color=no`
 
     # ~ expansion in --project and JULIA_PROJECT
     if !Sys.iswindows()
-        expanded_a = abspath(expanduser("~/foo"))
-        @test occursin(expanded_a, readchomp(`$exename --project='~/foo' -E 'Base.active_project()'`))
-        @test occursin(expanded_a, readchomp(setenv(`$exename -E 'Base.active_project()'`, "JULIA_PROJECT" => "~/foo", "HOME" => homedir())))
+        let expanded = abspath(expanduser("~/foo"))
+            @test expanded == readchomp(`$exename --project='~/foo' -e 'println(dirname(Base.active_project()))'`)
+            @test expanded == readchomp(setenv(`$exename -e 'println(dirname(Base.active_project()))'`, "JULIA_PROJECT" => "~/foo", "HOME" => homedir()))
+        end
+    end
 
-        expanded_b = abspath(Base.load_path_expand("@foo"))
-        @test occursin(expanded_b, readchomp(`$exename --project='@foo' -E 'Base.active_project()'`))
-        @test occursin(expanded_b, readchomp(setenv(`$exename -E 'Base.active_project()'`, "JULIA_PROJECT" => "@foo", "HOME" => homedir())))
+    # handling of @projectname in --project and JULIA_PROJECT
+    let expanded = abspath(Base.load_path_expand("@foo"))
+        @test expanded == readchomp(`$exename --project='@foo' -e 'println(dirname(Base.active_project()))'`)
+        @test expanded == readchomp(setenv(`$exename -e 'println(dirname(Base.active_project()))'`, "JULIA_PROJECT" => "@foo", "HOME" => homedir()))
     end
 
     # --quiet, --banner