diff --git a/scripts/kconfig/preprocess.c b/scripts/kconfig/preprocess.c
index 5ca2df790d3c..389814b02d06 100644
--- a/scripts/kconfig/preprocess.c
+++ b/scripts/kconfig/preprocess.c
@@ -111,7 +111,7 @@ static char *do_error_if(int argc, char *argv[])
 	if (!strcmp(argv[0], "y"))
 		pperror("%s", argv[1]);
 
-	return NULL;
+	return xstrdup("");
 }
 
 static char *do_filename(int argc, char *argv[])