diff --git a/bin/nodetool b/bin/nodetool
index 4ca496b4ea..d594bf47b1 100755
--- a/bin/nodetool
+++ b/bin/nodetool
@@ -73,7 +73,7 @@ JVM_ARGS=""
 SSL_FILE=$HOME/.cassandra/nodetool-ssl.properties
 while true
 do
-  if [ ! $1 ]; then break; fi
+  if [ ! "$1" ]; then break; fi
   case $1 in
     -p)
       JMX_PORT=$2