diff --git a/share/spack/setup-env.sh b/share/spack/setup-env.sh
index 6503728d8f..586a5b836b 100755
--- a/share/spack/setup-env.sh
+++ b/share/spack/setup-env.sh
@@ -58,7 +58,7 @@
 
 function spack {
     # save raw arguments into an array before butchering them
-    declare -a args=( "$@" )
+    args=( "$@" )
 
     # accumulate initial flags for main spack command
     _sp_flags=""