diff --git a/src/plugin_man.cpp b/src/plugin_man.cpp
index 59f16ae0448696970ef2c7b2a94205d1459f4a0c..e5345e6596107cb830ce8ada0d092ce89a906a74 100644
--- a/src/plugin_man.cpp
+++ b/src/plugin_man.cpp
@@ -215,6 +215,9 @@ void ZiprPluginManager_t::open_plugins
 	auto loadedBasenames = set<string>();
 	for(const auto dir : ziprPluginDirs) 
 	{
+		/* skip empty directories in list. */
+		if(dir == "" )
+			continue;
 
 		const auto dp = opendir(dir.c_str());
 		if(dp == nullptr)