diff --git a/usr.bin/mklocale/yacc.y b/usr.bin/mklocale/yacc.y
index 4024f672022..344af220cf6 100644
--- a/usr.bin/mklocale/yacc.y
+++ b/usr.bin/mklocale/yacc.y
@@ -730,8 +730,8 @@ dump_tables()
     /*
      * PART 6: And finally the variable data
      */
-    if (fwrite(variable,
-	       ntohl(new_locale.variable_len), 1, fp) != 1) {
+    if (new_locale.variable_len != 0 &&
+	fwrite(variable, ntohl(new_locale.variable_len), 1, fp) != 1) {
 	perror(locale_file);
 	exit(1);
     }