diff --git a/.github/workflows/localize.yml b/.github/workflows/localize.yml
index 79674aa4..2c57c114 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/localize.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/localize.yml
@@ -62,17 +62,20 @@ jobs:
           # print the git diff
           git diff locale/sunshine.po
 
-          # set the variable with minimal output
-          OUTPUT=$(git diff --numstat locale/sunshine.po)
+          # set the variable with minimal output, replacing `\t` with ` `
+          OUTPUT=$(git diff --numstat locale/sunshine.po | sed -e "s#\t# #g")
           echo "git_diff=${OUTPUT}" >> $GITHUB_ENV
 
       - name: git reset
         # only run if a single line changed (date/time) and file already existed
-        # \t in next line is a tab character
-        if: ${{ env.git_diff == '1\t1\tlocale/sunshine.po' && env.new_file == 'false' }}
+        if: ${{ env.git_diff == '1 1 locale/sunshine.po' && env.new_file == 'false' }}
         run: |
           git reset --hard
 
+      - name: Get current date
+        id: date
+        run: echo "date=$(date +'%Y-%m-%d')" >> $GITHUB_OUTPUT
+
       - name: Create/Update Pull Request
         uses: peter-evans/create-pull-request@v4
         with:
@@ -86,7 +89,7 @@ jobs:
           title: New Babel Updates
           body: |
             Update report
-            - Updated with *today's* date
+            - Updated ${{ steps.date.outputs.date }}
             - Auto-generated by [create-pull-request][1]
 
             [1]: https://github.com/peter-evans/create-pull-request