diff --git a/builtin/rm.c b/builtin/rm.c
index f08561d5fa..fe3faad158 100644
--- a/builtin/rm.c
+++ b/builtin/rm.c
@@ -316,7 +316,6 @@ int cmd_rm(int argc, const char **argv, const char *prefix)
 	parse_pathspec(&pathspec, 0, PATHSPEC_PREFER_CWD, prefix, argv);
 	refresh_index(&the_index, REFRESH_QUIET, &pathspec, NULL, NULL);
 
-	seen = NULL;
 	seen = xcalloc(pathspec.nr, 1);
 
 	for (i = 0; i < active_nr; i++) {