diff --git a/plugins/system/systemd_units b/plugins/system/systemd_units
index dd336dd7..0a55adc5 100755
--- a/plugins/system/systemd_units
+++ b/plugins/system/systemd_units
@@ -62,8 +62,8 @@ EOF
 fetch () {
 	tmp=$(systemctl --no-pager --no-legend --all | awk '{print $1, $3}')
 	for state in $states ; do
-		echo -n "$state.value "
-		echo "$tmp" | grep -c "$state$"
+		count=$(echo "$tmp" | grep -c "$state$")
+		echo "$state.value $count"
 		extinfo=$(echo "$tmp" | grep "$state$" | cut -d " " -f 1)
 		if [ -n "$extinfo" ]; then
 			echo "$state.extinfo" $extinfo