diff --git a/src/token.c b/src/token.c
index f86e2d0c..b74c8459 100644
--- a/src/token.c
+++ b/src/token.c
@@ -1658,7 +1658,8 @@ void print_spice_element(FILE *fd, int inst)
   }
   /* do a second round of substitutions, but without calling tcl */
   if(result && strstr(result, "eval(") == result) {
-    strrchr(result, ')')[0]= '\0';
+    char *c = strrchr(result, ')');
+    if(c) *c = '\0';
     my_strdup2(88, &result, translate(inst, result+5));
   }
   fprintf(fd, "%s", result);