diff --git a/src/pkg/strings/strings.go b/src/pkg/strings/strings.go
index 12be04c239..c332f4567d 100644
--- a/src/pkg/strings/strings.go
+++ b/src/pkg/strings/strings.go
@@ -28,8 +28,10 @@ func explode(s string, n int) []string {
 		a[i] = string(rune)
 		cur += size
 	}
-	// add the rest
-	a[i] = s[cur:]
+	// add the rest, if there is any
+	if cur < len(s) {
+		a[i] = s[cur:]
+	}
 	return a
 }
 
diff --git a/src/pkg/strings/strings_test.go b/src/pkg/strings/strings_test.go
index 9e8feceaa2..3206f5e143 100644
--- a/src/pkg/strings/strings_test.go
+++ b/src/pkg/strings/strings_test.go
@@ -109,6 +109,7 @@ type ExplodeTest struct {
 }
 
 var explodetests = []ExplodeTest{
+	ExplodeTest{"", -1, []string{}},
 	ExplodeTest{abcd, 4, []string{"a", "b", "c", "d"}},
 	ExplodeTest{faces, 3, []string{"☺", "☻", "☹"}},
 	ExplodeTest{abcd, 2, []string{"a", "bcd"}},