diff --git a/clients/cli/utils.c b/clients/cli/utils.c
index cb8fbf018a..60cf9f93f5 100644
--- a/clients/cli/utils.c
+++ b/clients/cli/utils.c
@@ -510,13 +510,10 @@ nmc_string_is_valid (const char *input, const char **allowed, GError **error)
 finish:
 	if (ret == NULL) {
 		char *valid_vals = g_strjoinv (", ", (char **) allowed);
-		if (!input || !*input) {
-			g_set_error (error, 1, 0, _("missing name, try one of [%s]"),
-			             valid_vals);
-		} else {
-			g_set_error (error, 1, 0, _("'%s' not among [%s]"),
-			             input ? input : "", valid_vals);
-		}
+		if (!input || !*input)
+			g_set_error (error, 1, 0, _("missing name, try one of [%s]"), valid_vals);
+		else
+			g_set_error (error, 1, 0, _("'%s' not among [%s]"), input, valid_vals);
 
 		g_free (valid_vals);
 	}