diff --git a/src/intl/charsets.c b/src/intl/charsets.c
index fd3400b9..810234b7 100644
--- a/src/intl/charsets.c
+++ b/src/intl/charsets.c
@@ -299,16 +299,16 @@ static char utf_buffer[7];
 NONSTATIC_INLINE char *
 encode_utf8(unicode_val_T u)
 {
-	int s;
-
-	memset(utf_buffer, 0, 7);
-
 #ifdef CONFIG_CODEPOINT
 	if (!is_codepoint_supported(u)) {
+		int s;
+
 		BIN_SEARCH(unicode_7b, x, N_UNICODE_7B, u, s);
 		if (s != -1) return (char *)unicode_7b[s].s;
 	}
 #endif
+	memset(utf_buffer, 0, 7);
+
 	if (u < 0x80)
 		utf_buffer[0] = u;
 	else if (u < 0x800)