diff --git a/install.sh b/install.sh
index ccc6801..12c1759 100644
--- a/install.sh
+++ b/install.sh
@@ -245,7 +245,7 @@ if [ -n "${NODEJS_VER:-}" ]; then
   fi
 fi
 
-NODEJS_VER="${NODEJS_VER:v}" # Search for 'v' at the least
+NODEJS_VER="${NODEJS_VER:-v}" # Search for 'v' at the least
 # sort -rV  # will sort by version number, but it appears these are already sorted
 # tail +2   # starts at line two (1-indexed) and all after (omits the csv header with 'version' and such)
 # cut -f 1  # gets only the first column