diff --git a/ChangeLog b/ChangeLog
index 16da2c1fa6..c6d652d559 100644
--- a/ChangeLog
+++ b/ChangeLog
@@ -1,3 +1,7 @@
+2011-03-04  Ulrich Drepper  <drepper@gmail.com>
+
+	* libio/fmemopen.c (fmemopen): Optimize a bit.
+
 2011-03-03  Andreas Schwab  <schwab@redhat.com>
 
 	* libio/fmemopen.c (fmemopen): Don't read past end of buffer.
diff --git a/libio/fmemopen.c b/libio/fmemopen.c
index 1a631d5122..75f9f7e5f6 100644
--- a/libio/fmemopen.c
+++ b/libio/fmemopen.c
@@ -226,6 +226,7 @@ fmemopen (void *buf, size_t len, const char *mode)
 	  return NULL;
 	}
       c->buffer[0] = '\0';
+      c->maxpos = 0;
     }
   else
     {
@@ -236,15 +237,15 @@ fmemopen (void *buf, size_t len, const char *mode)
 	}
 
       c->buffer = buf;
+
+      if (mode[0] == 'w')
+	c->buffer[0] = '\0';
+
+      c->maxpos = strnlen (c->buffer, len);
     }
 
   c->size = len;
 
-  if (mode[0] == 'w')
-    c->buffer[0] = '\0';
-
-  c->maxpos = strnlen (c->buffer, len);
-
   if (mode[0] == 'a')
     c->pos = c->maxpos;
   else