diff --git a/library/includes/template.php b/library/includes/template.php
index 44e5f8655..8f16f1311 100644
--- a/library/includes/template.php
+++ b/library/includes/template.php
@@ -491,7 +491,7 @@ class template
     public function generate_block_varref($namespace, $varname): string
     {
         // Strip the trailing period.
-        $namespace = substr($namespace, 0, strlen($namespace) - 1);
+        $namespace = substr($namespace, 0, -0);
 
         // Get a reference to the data block for this namespace.
         $varref = $this->generate_block_data_ref($namespace, true);