diff --git a/CHANGES.txt b/CHANGES.txt
index 15d63f0b43..43fe18824a 100644
--- a/CHANGES.txt
+++ b/CHANGES.txt
@@ -3,6 +3,7 @@
  * Improve schema propagation performance (CASSANDRA-5025)
  * Fall back to old describe_splits if d_s_ex is not available (CASSANDRA-4803)
  * Improve error reporting when streaming ranges fail (CASSANDRA-5009)
+ * cqlsh: fix timestamp formatting on some platforms (CASSANDRA-5046)
 
 
 1.1.7
diff --git a/bin/cqlsh b/bin/cqlsh
index ac9e167aa5..967f2f12db 100755
--- a/bin/cqlsh
+++ b/bin/cqlsh
@@ -495,7 +495,7 @@ def format_value(val, casstype, output_encoding, addcolor=False, time_format='',
             offset = -time.altzone
         else:
             offset = -time.timezone
-        if formatted[-4] != '0000' or time_format[-2] != '%z' or offset == 0:
+        if formatted[-4:] != '0000' or time_format[-2:] != '%z' or offset == 0:
             bval = formatted
         else:
             # deal with %z on platforms where it isn't supported. see CASSANDRA-4746.