diff --git a/lib/xml_util.C b/lib/xml_util.C
index 7f13ee0641..8a4e9b2666 100644
--- a/lib/xml_util.C
+++ b/lib/xml_util.C
@@ -309,7 +309,7 @@ std::string xml_encode_string(const unsigned char *input, size_t length=0) {
        }
     } else {
       char buf[16];
-      sprintf(buf,"&#%.3d",input[i]);
+      sprintf(buf,"&#%.3d;",input[i]);
       rv+=buf;
     }
   }