diff --git a/xarray/tests/test_datatree.py b/xarray/tests/test_datatree.py
index 82c624b9bf6..3c540a2fc3f 100644
--- a/xarray/tests/test_datatree.py
+++ b/xarray/tests/test_datatree.py
@@ -1433,7 +1433,6 @@ def test_doc_example(self) -> None:
 
 def _exact_match(message: str) -> str:
     return re.escape(dedent(message).strip())
-    return "^" + re.escape(dedent(message.rstrip())) + "$"
 
 
 class TestInheritance: