diff --git a/admin/systempreferences.pl b/admin/systempreferences.pl
index 5e3848d623..835466a16c 100755
--- a/admin/systempreferences.pl
+++ b/admin/systempreferences.pl
@@ -428,6 +428,7 @@ sub StringSearch {
                 my $sth = $dbh->prepare("Select variable,value,explanation,type,options from systempreferences where (variable like ?) order by variable");
                 $sth->execute($syspref);
                 while ( my $data = $sth->fetchrow_hashref ) {
+                    unless (defined $data->{value}) { $data->{value} = "";}
                     $data->{shortvalue} = $data->{value};
                     $data->{shortvalue} = substr( $data->{value}, 0, 60 ) . "..." if defined( $data->{value} ) and length( $data->{value} ) > 60;
                     push( @results, $data );
@@ -460,6 +461,7 @@ sub StringSearch {
         }
 
         while ( my $data = $sth->fetchrow_hashref ) {
+            unless (defined $data->{value}) { $data->{value} = "";}
             $data->{shortvalue} = $data->{value};
             $data->{shortvalue} = substr( $data->{value}, 0, 60 ) . "..." if length( $data->{value} ) > 60;
             push( @results, $data );