diff --git a/src/lxc/confile.c b/src/lxc/confile.c
index cfb2df8e6..f0f1ec080 100644
--- a/src/lxc/confile.c
+++ b/src/lxc/confile.c
@@ -1012,7 +1012,7 @@ static int config_network_ipv6(const char *key, const char *value,
 	char *slash,*valdup;
 	char *netmask;
 
-	if (!value || !strlen(value))
+	if (config_value_empty(value))
 		return lxc_clear_config_item(lxc_conf, key);
 
 	netdev = network_netdev(key, value, &lxc_conf->network);