diff --git a/lib/buffer.js b/lib/buffer.js
index 0ff7c1920adbba..ee30c69cc9611c 100644
--- a/lib/buffer.js
+++ b/lib/buffer.js
@@ -475,7 +475,6 @@ function fromString(string, encoding) {
     if (string.length === 0)
       return new FastBuffer();
     ops = encodingOps.utf8;
-    encoding = undefined;
   } else {
     ops = getEncodingOps(encoding);
     if (ops === undefined)