diff --git a/bin/nodetool b/bin/nodetool
index c60253020c..ef79f66b24 100755
--- a/bin/nodetool
+++ b/bin/nodetool
@@ -59,6 +59,6 @@ esac
       -Xmx32m \
       -Dlog4j.configuration=log4j-tools.properties \
       -Dstorage-config="$CASSANDRA_CONF" \
-      org.apache.cassandra.tools.NodeCmd $@
+      org.apache.cassandra.tools.NodeCmd ${1+"$@"}
 
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