diff --git a/libexec/rc/rc.subr b/libexec/rc/rc.subr
index 101c69e93cde..b95fc1b93285 100644
--- a/libexec/rc/rc.subr
+++ b/libexec/rc/rc.subr
@@ -2493,7 +2493,7 @@ ltr()
 		fi
 	done
 	if [ -n "${_var}" ]; then
-		setvar "${_var}" "${_out}"
+		printf -v "${_var}" "%s" "${_out}"
 	else
 		echo "${_out}"
 	fi