diff --git a/src/modules/shellthread-999999.0a1.0.tm b/src/modules/shellthread-999999.0a1.0.tm
index e9cdaf08..0137708f 100644
--- a/src/modules/shellthread-999999.0a1.0.tm
+++ b/src/modules/shellthread-999999.0a1.0.tm
@@ -494,7 +494,7 @@ namespace eval shellthread::manager {
                     dict lappend winfo list_client_tids $tidclient
                     dict set workers $sourcetag $winfo  ;#writeback
                     return [dict get $winfo tid]
-                } elseif {$existing_settings eq {-raw 0 - file {} -syslog {} -direction out}} {
+                } elseif {$existing_settings eq {-raw 0 -file {} -syslog {} -direction out}} {
                     #review - magic dict is default - shouldn't hard code here.
                     dict lappend winfo list_client_tids $tidclient
                     dict set workers $sourcetag $winfo  ;#writeback