diff --git a/plugins/monit/monit_parser b/plugins/monit/monit_parser
index 8cdb36b1..f7fb73a0 100755
--- a/plugins/monit/monit_parser
+++ b/plugins/monit/monit_parser
@@ -61,8 +61,8 @@ MONIT_XML_URL = ("http://{host}:{port}/_status?format=xml"
 
 
 def sanitize(s):
-    OK_CHARS = "abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz0123456789"
-    return "".join([char for char in s if char in OK_CHARS])
+    ok_chars = "abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz0123456789"
+    return "".join([char for char in s if char in ok_chars])
 
 
 def get_monit_status_xml():