diff --git a/builtin-add.c b/builtin-add.c
index 2d256981733345f4a430e11812b6851f0351aabd..3a73a173f729e0ca75e650779773316e8ae3fe98 100644
--- a/builtin-add.c
+++ b/builtin-add.c
@@ -21,8 +21,7 @@ static void prune_directory(struct dir_struct *dir, const char **pathspec, int p
 
 	for (specs = 0; pathspec[specs];  specs++)
 		/* nothing */;
-	seen = xmalloc(specs);
-	memset(seen, 0, specs);
+	seen = xcalloc(specs, 1);
 
 	src = dst = dir->entries;
 	i = dir->nr;
diff --git a/builtin-rm.c b/builtin-rm.c
index 5deb81171996029b31da14109c408ffba33f7957..bb810ba41ae23c9dc4c38fbb0fa7883a33d43524 100644
--- a/builtin-rm.c
+++ b/builtin-rm.c
@@ -90,8 +90,7 @@ int cmd_rm(int argc, const char **argv, char **envp)
 	seen = NULL;
 	for (i = 0; pathspec[i] ; i++)
 		/* nothing */;
-	seen = xmalloc(i);
-	memset(seen, 0, i);
+	seen = xcalloc(i, 1);
 
 	for (i = 0; i < active_nr; i++) {
 		struct cache_entry *ce = active_cache[i];
diff --git a/combine-diff.c b/combine-diff.c
index 1bc1484645b4021ee71415f3b3ed44e4c88030d6..919112bba9271a8e3903b06946cf91036411f1a4 100644
--- a/combine-diff.c
+++ b/combine-diff.c
@@ -639,8 +639,7 @@ static int show_patch_diff(struct combine_diff_path *elem, int num_parent,
 			/* deleted file */
 			result_size = 0;
 			elem->mode = 0;
-			result = xmalloc(1);
-			result[0] = 0;
+			result = xcalloc(1, 1);
 		}
 		if (0 <= fd)
 			close(fd);