diff --git a/tests/runtests.pl b/tests/runtests.pl
index a3e2f6c9b267d86d89a5a05527e01ac60ce98974..7249f8b07a8a22b4779d38e11b36ccbf0c70ae87 100755
--- a/tests/runtests.pl
+++ b/tests/runtests.pl
@@ -442,7 +442,7 @@ sub singletest {
 
     # name of the test
     open(N, "<$TESTDIR/name$NUMBER.txt") ||
-        print "** Couldn't read name on test $NUMBER\n";
+        return -1; # not a test
     my $DESC=<N>;
     close(N);
     $DESC =~ s/[\r\n]//g;