diff --git a/lib/cli.py b/lib/cli.py
index 25e3d7690dc5cfb07f9328896ea5cec8ba1778db..38129418a3963dc2245898dba3ee36ce237b11e0 100644
--- a/lib/cli.py
+++ b/lib/cli.py
@@ -2391,13 +2391,13 @@ class _QueryColumnFormatter:
            "Found value %r for abnormal status %s" % (value, status)
 
     if status == constants.QRFS_UNKNOWN:
-      return "<unknown>"
+      return "(unknown)"
 
     if status == constants.QRFS_NODATA:
-      return "<nodata>"
+      return "(nodata)"
 
     if status == constants.QRFS_UNAVAIL:
-      return "<unavail>"
+      return "(unavail)"
 
     raise NotImplementedError("Unknown status %s" % status)
 
diff --git a/test/ganeti.cli_unittest.py b/test/ganeti.cli_unittest.py
index 0e76e83e2c650791702042553eb791691d97bde1..f1e1e38ce3b3bdf825712e49678ea1cf9a298e89 100755
--- a/test/ganeti.cli_unittest.py
+++ b/test/ganeti.cli_unittest.py
@@ -394,9 +394,9 @@ class TestFormatQueryResult(unittest.TestCase):
                                            separator="|"),
       (cli.QR_UNKNOWN, [
       "ID|unk|Unavail|NoData",
-      "1|<unknown>|N|",
-      "2|<unknown>|<nodata>|x",
-      "3|<unknown>|N|<unavail>",
+      "1|(unknown)|N|",
+      "2|(unknown)|(nodata)|x",
+      "3|(unknown)|N|(unavail)",
       ]))
 
   def testNoData(self):
@@ -448,8 +448,8 @@ class TestFormatQueryResult(unittest.TestCase):
                                            separator="|"),
       (cli.QR_INCOMPLETE, [
       "1|N|",
-      "2|<nodata>|x",
-      "3|N|<unavail>",
+      "2|(nodata)|x",
+      "3|N|(unavail)",
       ]))
 
   def testInvalidFieldType(self):