diff --git a/tools/virsh.c b/tools/virsh.c
index 2ccf08b58c29abf0b688bcaf961cec4883ca7a81..c0ee3ee59e20fc8638d3d386f9fe764efd7ca67d 100644
--- a/tools/virsh.c
+++ b/tools/virsh.c
@@ -11022,7 +11022,7 @@ vshParseArgv(vshControl *ctl, int argc, char **argv)
         switch (arg) {
         case 'd':
             if (virStrToLong_i(optarg, NULL, 10, &ctl->debug) < 0) {
-                vshError(ctl, _("option -d takes a numeric argument"));
+                vshError(ctl, "%s", _("option -d takes a numeric argument"));
                 exit(EXIT_FAILURE);
             }
             break;