diff --git a/pkgs/development/compilers/ghc/ghc-get-packages.sh b/pkgs/development/compilers/ghc/ghc-get-packages.sh
index 4593ead17d31..7f47cd30a151 100755
--- a/pkgs/development/compilers/ghc/ghc-get-packages.sh
+++ b/pkgs/development/compilers/ghc/ghc-get-packages.sh
@@ -11,11 +11,11 @@ else
 fi
 PATH="$2:$PATH"
 IFS=":"
-PKGS=""
+PKGS=()
 for p in $PATH; do
   PkgDir="$p/../lib/ghc-pkgs/ghc-$version"
   for i in $PkgDir/*.installedconf; do
-    test -f $i && PKGS="$PKGS $prefix$i"
+    test -f $i && PKGS[${#PKGS[*]}]="$prefix$i"
   done
 done
-echo $PKGS
+echo ${PKGS[*]}