diff --git a/lib/manager/gradle-lite/tokenizer.ts b/lib/manager/gradle-lite/tokenizer.ts
index 271a80958336d825c7617ba9e5d5af4919240009..0025b268d6eff475056aaad92459e2996b63928e 100644
--- a/lib/manager/gradle-lite/tokenizer.ts
+++ b/lib/manager/gradle-lite/tokenizer.ts
@@ -113,6 +113,7 @@ function processChars(acc: Token[], token: Token): Token[] {
   const tokenType = token.type;
   const prevToken: Token = acc[acc.length - 1];
   if ([TokenType.Chars, TokenType.EscapedChar].includes(tokenType)) {
+    // istanbul ignore if
     if (prevToken?.type === TokenType.String) {
       prevToken.value += token.value;
     } else {