diff --git a/sbin/sysctl/sysctl.c b/sbin/sysctl/sysctl.c
index a86d659cb040..13596450d2e1 100644
--- a/sbin/sysctl/sysctl.c
+++ b/sbin/sysctl/sysctl.c
@@ -710,9 +710,10 @@ show_var(int *oid, int nlen)
 		warnx("malloc failed");
 		return (1);
 	}
+	ctltype = (kind & CTLTYPE);
 	len = j;
 	i = sysctl(oid, nlen, val, &len, 0, 0);
-	if (i || !len) {
+	if (i != 0 || (len == 0 && ctltype != CTLTYPE_STRING)) {
 		free(oval);
 		return (1);
 	}
@@ -724,7 +725,6 @@ show_var(int *oid, int nlen)
 	}
 	val[len] = '\0';
 	p = val;
-	ctltype = (kind & CTLTYPE);
 	sign = ctl_sign[ctltype];
 	intlen = ctl_size[ctltype];