diff --git a/src/H5private.h b/src/H5private.h
index 97735a2d87..038ae75923 100644
--- a/src/H5private.h
+++ b/src/H5private.h
@@ -927,7 +927,7 @@ extern char *strdup(const char *s);
 #define	DIR_SEPC 		'\\'
 #define	DIR_SEPS 		"\\"
 #define CHECK_DELIMITER(SS)     ((SS == DIR_SEPC)||(SS == DIR_SLASH_SEPC))
-#define CHECK_ABSOLUTE(NAME)    (((isalpha(NAME[0])) && (NAME[1] == ':') && CHECK_DELIMITER(NAME[2]))
+#define CHECK_ABSOLUTE(NAME)    ((isalpha(NAME[0])) && (NAME[1] == ':') && (CHECK_DELIMITER(NAME[2])))
 #define CHECK_ABS_DRIVE(NAME)   ((isalpha(NAME[0])) && (NAME[1] == ':'))
 #define CHECK_ABS_PATH(NAME)    (CHECK_DELIMITER(NAME[0]))
 
@@ -941,7 +941,6 @@ extern char *strdup(const char *s);
         (ptr = slash);                                  \
 }
 
-
 #else
 
 #define		DIR_SEPC	'/'
diff --git a/test/links.c b/test/links.c
index f940bb1ec7..7671c60f70 100644
--- a/test/links.c
+++ b/test/links.c
@@ -2603,10 +2603,10 @@ external_link_env(hid_t fapl, hbool_t new_format)
 {
     hid_t	fid = (-1);     		/* File ID */
     hid_t	gid = (-1);	                /* Group IDs */
+
     char	*envval=NULL;
     static      char *new_env = "HDF5_EXT_PREFIX=.:tmp";
-    static      char *env_var = "HDF5_EXT_PREFIX";
-    static	envstring[NAME_BUF_SIZE];
+    static      char *old_env = "HDF5_EXT_PREFIX=";
 
     char	filename1[NAME_BUF_SIZE],
     		filename2[NAME_BUF_SIZE],
@@ -2644,24 +2644,17 @@ external_link_env(hid_t fapl, hbool_t new_format)
     /* Create external link to target file */
     if(H5Lcreate_external(filename2, "/A", fid, "ext_link", H5P_DEFAULT, H5P_DEFAULT) < 0) TEST_ERROR
 
-    /* get original value for the HDF library environment variable for external link if set */
-    envval = HDgetenv(env_var);
     if (HDputenv(new_env) < 0)
 	TEST_ERROR
 
-
     /* Open object through external link */
     H5E_BEGIN_TRY {
         gid = H5Gopen2(fid, "ext_link", H5P_DEFAULT);
     } H5E_END_TRY;
 
-    /* restore value for the environment variable as needed */
-    if ((envval != NULL) && (*envval)) {
-	sprintf(envstring, "%s=%s", env_var, envval);
-	if (HDputenv(envstring) < 0)
-	    TEST_ERROR
-    }
-	
+    if (HDputenv(old_env) < 0)
+	TEST_ERROR
+
     /* should be able to find the target file from pathnames set via environment variable */
     if (gid < 0) {
 	H5_FAILED();