diff --git a/builtin/clean.c b/builtin/clean.c
index 4ca12bc0c0..e3046b962c 100644
--- a/builtin/clean.c
+++ b/builtin/clean.c
@@ -976,7 +976,6 @@ int cmd_clean(int argc, const char **argv, const char *prefix)
 
 	for (i = 0; i < dir.nr; i++) {
 		struct dir_entry *ent = dir.entries[i];
-		int matches = 0;
 		struct stat st;
 		const char *rel;
 
@@ -986,8 +985,7 @@ int cmd_clean(int argc, const char **argv, const char *prefix)
 		if (lstat(ent->name, &st))
 			die_errno("Cannot lstat '%s'", ent->name);
 
-		if (S_ISDIR(st.st_mode) && !remove_directories &&
-		    matches != MATCHED_EXACTLY)
+		if (S_ISDIR(st.st_mode) && !remove_directories)
 			continue;
 
 		rel = relative_path(ent->name, prefix, &buf);