diff --git a/src/builtins/path.cpp b/src/builtins/path.cpp
index 2c19a2bc6..07d8cb92e 100644
--- a/src/builtins/path.cpp
+++ b/src/builtins/path.cpp
@@ -201,7 +201,9 @@ static void path_out(io_streams_t &streams, const options_t &opts, const wcstrin
         if (!opts.null_out) {
             streams.out.append_with_separation(str, separation_type_t::explicitly);
         } else {
-            streams.out.append(str + L"\0");
+            // Note the char - if this was a string instead we'd add
+            // a string of length 0, i.e. nothing
+            streams.out.append(str + L'\0');
         }
     }
 }
diff --git a/tests/checks/path.fish b/tests/checks/path.fish
index 8f5d526f3..1e3b0377e 100644
--- a/tests/checks/path.fish
+++ b/tests/checks/path.fish
@@ -222,3 +222,11 @@ set -l epochtime (path mtime epoch)
 # Allow for timezone shenanigans
 test $epochtime -gt 0 -a $epochtime -lt 180000
 or echo Oops not mtime
+
+path basename -Z foo bar baz | path sort
+# CHECK: bar
+# CHECK: baz
+# CHECK: foo
+
+path basename --null-out bar baz | string escape
+# CHECK: bar\x00baz\x00