diff --git a/lib/erb.rb b/lib/erb.rb
index 8a6c237f7b..ff30621041 100644
--- a/lib/erb.rb
+++ b/lib/erb.rb
@@ -589,7 +589,7 @@ class ERB
     end
 
     def add_put_cmd(out, content)
-      out.push("#{@put_cmd} -#{content_dump(content)}")
+      out.push("#{@put_cmd}(-#{content_dump(content)})")
     end
 
     def add_insert_cmd(out, content)