diff --git a/src/string_utils.cpp b/src/string_utils.cpp
index 04e5395..181fb22 100644
--- a/src/string_utils.cpp
+++ b/src/string_utils.cpp
@@ -83,7 +83,7 @@ map<string, string> sc::parse_ini_file(const string& path, bool ignore_sections)
     string prefix;
     string line;
     ifstream file {path};
-    if (!file) throw runtime_error {string {"could not open "} + path};
+    if (!file) throw runtime_error {string {"could not open: "} + path};
     while (getline(file, line)) {
         if (line[0] == '#') continue; // ignore comments
         if (line[0] == '[') {