diff --git a/utils/rtpengine-ctl b/utils/rtpengine-ctl
index 93256e1fc..496d50673 100755
--- a/utils/rtpengine-ctl
+++ b/utils/rtpengine-ctl
@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@
 
 use IO::Socket::INET;
 
-$num_args = $#ARGV + 1;
+my $num_args = $#ARGV + 1;
 if ( ($num_args == 0) or
      (($num_args == 1) && (($ARGV[0] eq "--help") or ($ARGV[0] eq "-h"))) )
 {