diff --git a/examples/utils.h b/examples/utils.h
index 70180370..a7ecdd25 100644
--- a/examples/utils.h
+++ b/examples/utils.h
@@ -56,7 +56,9 @@ prompt_input(const char *prompt, char *input, const size_t max_input_len,
         printf("\nEnter %s (%zu bytes) > ", prompt, max_input_len);
     }
     fflush(stdout);
-    fgets(input_tmp, sizeof input_tmp, stdin);
+    if (fgets(input_tmp, sizeof input_tmp, stdin) == NULL) {
+      input_tmp[0] = '\0';
+    }
     actual_input_len = strlen(input_tmp);
 
     /* trim \n */