diff --git a/admin/preferences.pl b/admin/preferences.pl
index 1e12b1e9a0..988753aed0 100755
--- a/admin/preferences.pl
+++ b/admin/preferences.pl
@@ -229,7 +229,8 @@ sub SearchPrefs {
     our @terms = split( /\s+/, $searchfield );
 
     foreach my $tab_name ( keys %tab_files ) {
-        my $data = GetTab( $input, $tab_name );
+        # Force list context to remove 'uninitialized value in goto' warn coming from YAML::Syck; note that the other GetTab call is in list context too. The actual cause however is the null value for the pref OpacRenewalBranch in opac.pref
+        my ($data) = GetTab( $input, $tab_name );
         my $title = ( keys( %$data ) )[0];
         my $tab = $data->{ $title };
         $tab = { '' => $tab } if ( ref( $tab ) eq 'ARRAY' );