diff --git a/src/cmd/ksh93/tests/shtests b/src/cmd/ksh93/tests/shtests
index 06b23a41e..1b79db274 100755
--- a/src/cmd/ksh93/tests/shtests
+++ b/src/cmd/ksh93/tests/shtests
@@ -293,6 +293,9 @@ then	trap 'printf "\nTemporary files left in: %s\n" "$tmp"' EXIT
 else	trap 'cd / && rm -rf "$tmp"' EXIT
 fi
 
+# for interactive shell ('ksh -i') tests: avoid affecting ~/.sh_history
+export HISTFILE=$tmp/sh_history
+
 if	(( compile ))
 then	if	whence $SHCOMP > /dev/null
 	then	: