diff --git a/src/_h5ai/public/index.php b/src/_h5ai/public/index.php
index 5ba4cf72..9e64788f 100644
--- a/src/_h5ai/public/index.php
+++ b/src/_h5ai/public/index.php
@@ -5,8 +5,7 @@ define('MIN_PHP_VERSION', '5.5.0');
 
 if (!function_exists('version_compare') || version_compare(PHP_VERSION, MIN_PHP_VERSION, '<')) {
     header('Content-type: text/plain;charset=utf-8');
-    echo '[err] h5ai requires PHP ' . MIN_PHP_VERSION . ' or later, but found PHP ' . PHP_VERSION;
-    exit;
+    exit('[ERR] h5ai requires PHP ' . MIN_PHP_VERSION . ' or later, but found PHP ' . PHP_VERSION);
 }
 
 require_once __DIR__ . '/../private/php/class-bootstrap.php';