diff --git a/share/functions/__fish_complete_command.fish b/share/functions/__fish_complete_command.fish
index ddbfb0273..875d72d23 100644
--- a/share/functions/__fish_complete_command.fish
+++ b/share/functions/__fish_complete_command.fish
@@ -3,7 +3,7 @@ function __fish_complete_command --description 'Complete using all available com
     switch $ctoken
         case '*=*'
             set ctoken (string split "=" -- $ctoken)
-            printf '%s\n' $ctoken[1]=(complete -C "$ctoken[2]")
+            complete -C "$ctoken[2]"
         case '-*' # do not try to complete options as commands
             return
         case '*'
diff --git a/tests/checks/complete.fish b/tests/checks/complete.fish
index 1d40c84c7..79ef35f4c 100644
--- a/tests/checks/complete.fish
+++ b/tests/checks/complete.fish
@@ -532,3 +532,7 @@ begin
 end
 
 rm -r $tmpdir
+
+complete -C'complete --command=fish' | head -n 1 | string replace -rf '\t.*' ''
+# (one "--command=" is okay, we used to get "--command=--command="
+# CHECK: --command=fish