diff --git a/scp.c b/scp.c
index 984a85f4..9195c340 100644
--- a/scp.c
+++ b/scp.c
@@ -3680,7 +3680,7 @@ char *tstr = (char *)malloc (1 + rbuf_len);
 strcpy (tstr, rbuf);
 
 if (*ops == '~') {      /* Substring? */
-    int offset, length;
+    int offset, length = rbuf_len;
     int o, l;
 
     switch (sscanf (ops + 1, "%d,%d", &o, &l)) {