diff --git a/sbin/sysctl/sysctl.c b/sbin/sysctl/sysctl.c
index 8d67644a65e..62f12b5b5c7 100644
--- a/sbin/sysctl/sysctl.c
+++ b/sbin/sysctl/sysctl.c
@@ -276,7 +276,11 @@ parse(const char *string, int lineno)
 		if (qflag)
 			return (1);
 		else {
-			warn("unknown oid '%s'%s", bufp, line);
+			if (errno == ENOENT) {
+				warnx("unknown oid '%s'%s", bufp, line);
+			} else {
+				warn("unknown oid '%s'%s", bufp, line);
+			}
 			return (1);
 		}
 	}