diff --git a/share/functions/__fish_md5.fish b/share/functions/__fish_md5.fish
index 3ad1a46f3..58e33a1ec 100644
--- a/share/functions/__fish_md5.fish
+++ b/share/functions/__fish_md5.fish
@@ -3,12 +3,12 @@ function __fish_md5
         # GNU systems
         if set -q argv[2]
             if test $argv[1] = -s
-                echo (echo $argv[2] | md5sum | string split ' ')[1]
+                echo $argv[2] | md5sum | string split ' ' -f 1
             else
                 printf (_ "%s: Too many arguments %s\n") fish_md5 $argv >&2
             end
         else
-            echo (md5sum $argv[1] | string split ' ')[1]
+            md5sum $argv[1] | string split ' ' -f 1
         end
         return 0
     else if type -q md5