diff --git a/lib/ansible/utils/color.py b/lib/ansible/utils/color.py
index 81a05d749e1..35b60f489ba 100644
--- a/lib/ansible/utils/color.py
+++ b/lib/ansible/utils/color.py
@@ -78,10 +78,10 @@ def stringc(text, color):
 
 def colorize(lead, num, color):
     """ Print 'lead' = 'num' in 'color' """
+    s = u"%s=%-4s" % (lead, str(num))
     if num != 0 and ANSIBLE_COLOR and color is not None:
-        return u"%s%s%-15s" % (stringc(lead, color), stringc("=", color), stringc(str(num), color))
-    else:
-        return u"%s=%-4s" % (lead, str(num))
+        s = stringc(s, color)
+    return s
 
 def hostcolor(host, stats, color=True):
     if ANSIBLE_COLOR and color: