diff --git a/src/basic/strv.h b/src/basic/strv.h
index e7c2b1a604f..dd3323c2235 100644
--- a/src/basic/strv.h
+++ b/src/basic/strv.h
@@ -87,6 +87,16 @@ char **strv_parse_nulstr(const char *s, size_t l);
 char **strv_split_nulstr(const char *s);
 int strv_make_nulstr(char * const *l, char **p, size_t *n);
 
+static inline int strv_from_nulstr(char ***a, const char *nulstr) {
+        char **t;
+
+        t = strv_split_nulstr(nulstr);
+        if (!t)
+                return -ENOMEM;
+        *a = t;
+        return 0;
+}
+
 bool strv_overlap(char * const *a, char * const *b) _pure_;
 
 #define STRV_FOREACH(s, l)                      \
diff --git a/src/libsystemd/sd-path/sd-path.c b/src/libsystemd/sd-path/sd-path.c
index 5797f55c75a..eed8229f5b8 100644
--- a/src/libsystemd/sd-path/sd-path.c
+++ b/src/libsystemd/sd-path/sd-path.c
@@ -536,16 +536,11 @@ static int get_search(uint64_t type, char ***list) {
                                                "/etc",
                                                NULL);
 
-        case SD_PATH_SEARCH_BINARIES_DEFAULT: {
-                char **t;
+        case SD_PATH_SEARCH_BINARIES_DEFAULT:
+                return strv_from_nulstr(list, DEFAULT_PATH_NULSTR);
 
-                t = strv_split_nulstr(DEFAULT_PATH_NULSTR);
-                if (!t)
-                        return -ENOMEM;
 
-                *list = t;
-                return 0;
-        }}
+        }
 
         return -EOPNOTSUPP;
 }