diff --git a/editors/awk.c b/editors/awk.c
index 079d0bde5..728ee8685 100644
--- a/editors/awk.c
+++ b/editors/awk.c
@@ -3128,6 +3128,9 @@ static var *evaluate(node *op, var *res)
 
 		case XC( OC_MOVE ):
 			debug_printf_eval("MOVE\n");
+			/* make sure that we never return a temp var */
+			if (L.v == TMPVAR0)
+				L.v = res;
 			/* if source is a temporary string, jusk relink it to dest */
 			if (R.v == TMPVAR1
 			 && !(R.v->type & VF_NUMBER)
diff --git a/testsuite/awk.tests b/testsuite/awk.tests
index 93e25d8c1..bbf0fbff1 100755
--- a/testsuite/awk.tests
+++ b/testsuite/awk.tests
@@ -479,4 +479,10 @@ testing 'awk backslash+newline eaten with no trace' \
 	"Hello world\n" \
 	'' ''
 
+testing 'awk assign while test' \
+	"awk '\$1==\$1=\"foo\" {print \$1}'" \
+	"foo\n" \
+	"" \
+	"foo"
+
 exit $FAILCOUNT