diff --git a/include/nlohmann/detail/input/parser.hpp b/include/nlohmann/detail/input/parser.hpp
index 1446f4524..9335542a0 100644
--- a/include/nlohmann/detail/input/parser.hpp
+++ b/include/nlohmann/detail/input/parser.hpp
@@ -573,11 +573,7 @@ class parser
 
     std::string exception_message(const token_type expected, const std::string& context)
     {
-        std::string error_msg = "syntax error ";
-
-        error_msg += concat("while parsing ", context, ' ');
-
-        error_msg += "- ";
+        std::string error_msg = concat("syntax error while parsing ", context, " - ");
 
         if (last_token == token_type::parse_error)
         {
diff --git a/single_include/nlohmann/json.hpp b/single_include/nlohmann/json.hpp
index 7f58db2af..cf5a4d711 100644
--- a/single_include/nlohmann/json.hpp
+++ b/single_include/nlohmann/json.hpp
@@ -23802,11 +23802,7 @@ class parser
 
     std::string exception_message(const token_type expected, const std::string& context)
     {
-        std::string error_msg = "syntax error ";
-
-        error_msg += concat("while parsing ", context, ' ');
-
-        error_msg += "- ";
+        std::string error_msg = concat("syntax error while parsing ", context, " - ");
 
         if (last_token == token_type::parse_error)
         {