diff --git a/.pre-commit-config.yaml b/.pre-commit-config.yaml
index 7b4efd66ce665e7995817f9b0c85e559cd3f58eb..3fa3ab9c3f1e18bd870b4e05d0f9a9d6b9ab54f0 100644
--- a/.pre-commit-config.yaml
+++ b/.pre-commit-config.yaml
@@ -1,4 +1,5 @@
 ---
+exclude: test_files
 repos:
   - repo: https://github.com/pre-commit/pre-commit-hooks.git
     rev: v4.0.1
@@ -10,7 +11,7 @@ repos:
       - id: check-yaml
       - id: detect-private-key
       - id: end-of-file-fixer
-        exclude: VERSION|test_files
+        exclude: VERSION
       - id: trailing-whitespace
 
   - repo: https://github.com/codespell-project/codespell.git