diff --git a/libbb/getopt32.c b/libbb/getopt32.c
index 611333c66..54dc7857d 100644
--- a/libbb/getopt32.c
+++ b/libbb/getopt32.c
@@ -338,7 +338,8 @@ getopt32(char **argv, const char *applet_opts, ...)
 
 	int spec_flgs = 0;
 
-	argc = 0;
+	/* skip 0: some applets cheat: they do not actually HAVE argv[0] */
+	argc = 1;
 	while (argv[argc])
 		argc++;