diff --git a/scripts/kconfig/conf.c b/scripts/kconfig/conf.c
index 659326c3e89579b09f86077dbcbe5e1eb3a12d28..006ad817cd5f003023a7308b471eb9c4e46ba5de 100644
--- a/scripts/kconfig/conf.c
+++ b/scripts/kconfig/conf.c
@@ -332,7 +332,7 @@ static int conf_choice(struct menu *menu)
 		}
 		if (!child)
 			continue;
-		if (line[strlen(line) - 1] == '?') {
+		if (line[0] && line[strlen(line) - 1] == '?') {
 			print_help(child);
 			continue;
 		}