diff --git a/base/initdefs.jl b/base/initdefs.jl
index 182984ae01d56..60fbaded1b282 100644
--- a/base/initdefs.jl
+++ b/base/initdefs.jl
@@ -245,8 +245,14 @@ function init_load_path()
     if haskey(ENV, "JULIA_LOAD_PATH")
         paths = parse_load_path(ENV["JULIA_LOAD_PATH"])
     else
-        paths = filter!(env -> env !== nothing,
-            String[env == "@." ? current_project() : env for env in DEFAULT_LOAD_PATH])
+        paths = String[]
+        for env in DEFAULT_LOAD_PATH
+            if env == "@."
+                env = current_project()
+                env === nothing && continue
+            end
+            push!(paths, env)
+        end
     end
     append!(empty!(LOAD_PATH), paths)
 end