diff --git a/.azure-pipelines.yml b/.azure-pipelines.yml
index c84eae249b6..62d8a0a424d 100644
--- a/.azure-pipelines.yml
+++ b/.azure-pipelines.yml
@@ -151,15 +151,8 @@ jobs:
       # display disk space usage
       df -h
       # configure
-      export AMReX_CMAKE_FLAGS=(
-        "-DAMReX_ASSERTIONS=ON"
-        "-DAMReX_TESTING=ON"
-      )
-      export WARPX_TEST_FLAGS=(
-        "-DWarpX_TEST_CLEANUP=ON"
-        "-DWarpX_TEST_FPETRAP=ON"
-        "-DWarpX_TEST_DEBUG=ON"
-      )
+      export AMReX_CMAKE_FLAGS="-DAMReX_ASSERTIONS=ON -DAMReX_TESTING=ON"
+      export WARPX_TEST_FLAGS="-DWarpX_TEST_CLEANUP=ON -DWarpX_TEST_FPETRAP=ON -DWarpX_TEST_DEBUG=ON"
       cmake -S . -B build    \
         ${AMReX_CMAKE_FLAGS} \
         ${WARPX_CMAKE_FLAGS} \