diff --git a/textproc/libxml/libxml.conf b/textproc/libxml/libxml.conf
index 9ff198898..7cfed433e 100644
--- a/textproc/libxml/libxml.conf
+++ b/textproc/libxml/libxml.conf
@@ -17,7 +17,7 @@ libxml_catalog() {
 	local catalog=/etc/xml/catalog
 	if [ ! -s $root$catalog ]; then
 		echo_status "Creating empty $catalog"
-		mkdir -p $root${catalog#/*}
+		mkdir -p $root${catalog%/*}
 		xmlcatalog --noout --create $root$catalog
 	fi
 }