--- libc/misc/dirent/readdir_r.c
+++ libc/misc/dirent/readdir_r.c
@@ -24,7 +24,6 @@
 	    __set_errno(EBADF);
 	    return(EBADF);
 	}
-	de = NULL;
 
 	__UCLIBC_MUTEX_LOCK(dir->dd_lock);
 
@@ -33,6 +32,7 @@
 		/* read dir->dd_max bytes of directory entries. */
 		bytes = __getdents(dir->dd_fd, dir->dd_buf, dir->dd_max);
 		if (bytes <= 0) {
+		    de = NULL;
 		    *result = NULL;
 		    ret = (bytes==0)? 0 : errno;
 		    goto all_done;
--- libc/misc/dirent/readdir64_r.c
+++ libc/misc/dirent/readdir64_r.c
@@ -26,7 +26,6 @@
 	    __set_errno(EBADF);
 	    return(EBADF);
 	}
-	de = NULL;
 
 	__UCLIBC_MUTEX_LOCK(dir->dd_lock);
 
@@ -35,6 +34,7 @@
 		/* read dir->dd_max bytes of directory entries. */
 		bytes = __getdents64(dir->dd_fd, dir->dd_buf, dir->dd_max);
 		if (bytes <= 0) {
+		    de = NULL;
 		    *result = NULL;
 		    ret = (bytes==0)? 0 : errno;
 		    goto all_done;