diff --git a/bin/kafka-run-class.sh b/bin/kafka-run-class.sh
index 39a3c66a2f060..8c0e63707ec4f 100755
--- a/bin/kafka-run-class.sh
+++ b/bin/kafka-run-class.sh
@@ -335,7 +335,7 @@ fi
 # Remove a possible colon prefix from the classpath (happens at lines like `CLASSPATH="$CLASSPATH:$file"` when CLASSPATH is blank)
 # Syntax used on the right side is native Bash string manipulation; for more details see
 # http://tldp.org/LDP/abs/html/string-manipulation.html, specifically the section titled "Substring Removal"
-CLASSPATH=${CLASSPATH#:}
+CLASSPATH="${CLASSPATH#:}"
 
 # If Cygwin is detected, classpath is converted to Windows format.
 (( WINDOWS_OS_FORMAT )) && CLASSPATH=$(cygpath --path --mixed "${CLASSPATH}")