diff --git a/lib/chezmoi/autotemplate.go b/lib/chezmoi/autotemplate.go
index 0a6e789ddf3..d694c13a5c6 100644
--- a/lib/chezmoi/autotemplate.go
+++ b/lib/chezmoi/autotemplate.go
@@ -49,6 +49,9 @@ func autoTemplate(contents []byte, data map[string]interface{}) ([]byte, error)
 	sort.Sort(sort.Reverse(byValueLength(variables)))
 	contentsStr := string(contents)
 	for _, variable := range variables {
+		if variable.value == "" {
+			continue
+		}
 		index := strings.Index(contentsStr, variable.value)
 		for index != -1 && index != len(contentsStr) {
 			if !inWord(contentsStr, index) && !inWord(contentsStr, index+len(variable.value)) {
diff --git a/lib/chezmoi/autotemplate_test.go b/lib/chezmoi/autotemplate_test.go
index f429164c9b8..83fab0d2dd8 100644
--- a/lib/chezmoi/autotemplate_test.go
+++ b/lib/chezmoi/autotemplate_test.go
@@ -110,6 +110,14 @@ func TestAutoTemplate(t *testing.T) {
 			},
 			wantStr: "{{ .alpha }} aa a aa {{ .alpha }} aa a aa {{ .alpha }}",
 		},
+		{
+			name:        "skip_empty",
+			contentsStr: "a",
+			data: map[string]interface{}{
+				"empty": "",
+			},
+			wantStr: "a",
+		},
 	} {
 		t.Run(tc.name, func(t *testing.T) {
 			got, gotErr := autoTemplate([]byte(tc.contentsStr), tc.data)