diff --git a/scripts/check_format.sh b/scripts/check_format.sh
index b9182c710..f4df5c41b 100755
--- a/scripts/check_format.sh
+++ b/scripts/check_format.sh
@@ -233,7 +233,7 @@ for c_file in "${changed_c_libs[@]}"; do
 	# Capture just the names of newly added (or modified) functions that start with "spdk_"
 	mapfile -t defined_symbols < <(git diff -U0 $commit_to_compare HEAD -- $c_file | sed -En 's/(^[+])(spdk[a-z,A-Z,0-9,_]*)(\(.*)/\2/p')
 	# Capture the names of removed symbols to catch edge cases where we just move definitions around.
-	mapfile -t removed_symbols < <(git diff -U0 HEAD $commit_to_compare -- $c_file | sed -En 's/(^[+])(spdk[a-z,A-Z,0-9,_]*)(\(.*)/\2/p')
+	mapfile -t removed_symbols < <(git diff -U0 $commit_to_compare HEAD -- $c_file | sed -En 's/(^[-])(spdk[a-z,A-Z,0-9,_]*)(\(.*)/\2/p')
 	for symbol in "${removed_symbols[@]}"; do
 		defined_symbols=("${defined_symbols[@]/$symbol/}")
 	done