diff --git a/lisp/eshell/em-ls.el b/lisp/eshell/em-ls.el
index aced2223327..1d018026e67 100644
--- a/lisp/eshell/em-ls.el
+++ b/lisp/eshell/em-ls.el
@@ -480,8 +480,8 @@ whose cdr is the list of file attributes."
 		     ""))
 		(let* ((str (eshell-ls-printable-size (nth 7 attrs)))
 		       (len (length str)))
-		  (if (< len 8)
-		      (concat (make-string (- 8 len) ? ) str)
+		  (if (< len size-width)
+		      (concat (make-string (- size-width len) ? ) str)
 		    str))
 		" " (format-time-string
 		     (concat