diff --git a/cluster/gce/gci/configure-helper.sh b/cluster/gce/gci/configure-helper.sh
index 09f8754dfda..038fa582c92 100644
--- a/cluster/gce/gci/configure-helper.sh
+++ b/cluster/gce/gci/configure-helper.sh
@@ -41,7 +41,7 @@ function convert-manifest-params {
   for flag in "${FLAGS[@]}"; do
     params+="\n\"$flag\","
   done
-  if [ -n "${params[*]}" ]; then
+  if [ -n "$params" ]; then
     echo "${params::-1}"  #  drop trailing comma
   fi
 }