diff --git a/plugins/knife/_knife b/plugins/knife/_knife
index 0d61ff15..57e42502 100644
--- a/plugins/knife/_knife
+++ b/plugins/knife/_knife
@@ -219,7 +219,7 @@ _chef_cookbooks_local() {
     fi
     local cookbook_path=${KNIFE_COOKBOOK_PATH:-$(grep cookbook_path $knife_rb | awk 'BEGIN {FS = "[" }; {print $2}' | sed 's/\,//g' | sed "s/'//g" | sed 's/\(.*\)]/\1/' )}
   fi
-  (for i in $cookbook_path; do ls $i; done)
+  (for i in $(echo $cookbook_path); do ls $i; done)
 }
 
 # This function extracts the available cookbook versions on the chef server