diff --git a/diff.c b/diff.c
index e0d39d04da5c863b3156b4c1a801b0ca7d8e9abe..5a9c55736d6f7ab37b708eb47af5015302467922 100644
--- a/diff.c
+++ b/diff.c
@@ -571,6 +571,7 @@ enum diff_symbol {
 	DIFF_SYMBOL_STATS_SUMMARY_INSERTS_DELETES,
 	DIFF_SYMBOL_STATS_LINE,
 	DIFF_SYMBOL_WORD_DIFF,
+	DIFF_SYMBOL_STAT_SEP,
 	DIFF_SYMBOL_SUBMODULE_ADD,
 	DIFF_SYMBOL_SUBMODULE_DEL,
 	DIFF_SYMBOL_SUBMODULE_UNTRACKED,
@@ -766,6 +767,9 @@ static void emit_diff_symbol(struct diff_options *o, enum diff_symbol s,
 	case DIFF_SYMBOL_WORD_DIFF:
 		fprintf(o->file, "%.*s", len, line);
 		break;
+	case DIFF_SYMBOL_STAT_SEP:
+		fputs(o->stat_sep, o->file);
+		break;
 	default:
 		die("BUG: unknown diff symbol");
 	}
@@ -5077,10 +5081,10 @@ void diff_flush(struct diff_options *options)
 	if (output_format & DIFF_FORMAT_PATCH) {
 		if (separator) {
 			emit_diff_symbol(options, DIFF_SYMBOL_SEPARATOR, NULL, 0, 0);
-			if (options->stat_sep) {
+			if (options->stat_sep)
 				/* attach patch instead of inline */
-				fputs(options->stat_sep, options->file);
-			}
+				emit_diff_symbol(options, DIFF_SYMBOL_STAT_SEP,
+						 NULL, 0, 0);
 		}
 
 		diff_flush_patch_all_file_pairs(options);