diff --git a/compiler/semantic/scope.go b/compiler/semantic/scope.go
index ceab9f038c..1f6e873d94 100644
--- a/compiler/semantic/scope.go
+++ b/compiler/semantic/scope.go
@@ -58,7 +58,7 @@ func (s *Scope) DefineConst(zctx *super.Context, name *ast.ID, def dag.Expr) err
 	}
 	if val.IsError() {
 		if val.IsMissing() {
-			return fmt.Errorf("const %q: cannot have variable dependency", name)
+			return fmt.Errorf("const %q: cannot have variable dependency", name.Name)
 		} else {
 			return fmt.Errorf("const %q: %q", name, string(val.Bytes()))
 		}
diff --git a/compiler/ztests/const-err.yaml b/compiler/ztests/const-err.yaml
index 962a9f123c..141bb26151 100644
--- a/compiler/ztests/const-err.yaml
+++ b/compiler/ztests/const-err.yaml
@@ -4,9 +4,7 @@ input: |
   {a:1}
   {a:2}
 
-output: ""
-
 error: |
-  const &{"ID" "t" {'\x06' '\x06'}}: cannot have variable dependency at line 1, column 1:
+  const "t": cannot have variable dependency at line 1, column 1:
   const t=a put x:=t
   ~~~~~~~~~