diff --git a/src/patchelf.cc b/src/patchelf.cc
index 2bb84eb7..67aa172c 100644
--- a/src/patchelf.cc
+++ b/src/patchelf.cc
@@ -1415,6 +1415,19 @@ void ElfFile<ElfFileParamNames>::removeRPath(Elf_Shdr & shdrDynamic) {
     this->rewriteSections();
 }
 
+/** Zeroes out the rpath string and returns its former length */
+size_t zeroOutRpath(char* rpath)
+{
+    /* Zero out the previous rpath to prevent retained dependencies in
+       Nix. */
+    size_t rpathSize = 0;
+    if (rpath) {
+        rpathSize = strlen(rpath);
+        memset(rpath, 'X', rpathSize);
+    }
+    return rpathSize;
+}
+
 template<ElfFileParams>
 void ElfFile<ElfFileParamNames>::modifyRPath(RPathOp op,
     const std::vector<std::string> & allowedRpathPrefixes, std::string newRPath)
@@ -1474,6 +1487,7 @@ void ElfFile<ElfFileParamNames>::modifyRPath(RPathOp op,
                 debug("no RPATH to delete\n");
                 return;
             }
+            zeroOutRpath(rpath);
             removeRPath(shdrDynamic);
             return;
         }
@@ -1481,7 +1495,7 @@ void ElfFile<ElfFileParamNames>::modifyRPath(RPathOp op,
             if (!rpath) {
                 debug("no RPATH to shrink\n");
                 return;
-            ;}
+            }
             newRPath = shrinkRPath(rpath, neededLibs, allowedRpathPrefixes);
             break;
         }
@@ -1511,17 +1525,10 @@ void ElfFile<ElfFileParamNames>::modifyRPath(RPathOp op,
     }
     changed = true;
 
-    /* Zero out the previous rpath to prevent retained dependencies in
-       Nix. */
-    size_t rpathSize = 0;
-    if (rpath) {
-        rpathSize = strlen(rpath);
-        memset(rpath, 'X', rpathSize);
-    }
+    size_t rpathSize = zeroOutRpath(rpath);
 
     debug("new rpath is '%s'\n", newRPath.c_str());
 
-
     if (newRPath.size() <= rpathSize) {
         if (rpath) memcpy(rpath, newRPath.c_str(), newRPath.size() + 1);
         return;