diff --git a/cJSON.c b/cJSON.c
index fb6caca66f012fe08f5ba1d487f630629a2e067c..5a25a90931cac009595fa0a2217cc52516735bce 100644
--- a/cJSON.c
+++ b/cJSON.c
@@ -453,7 +453,6 @@ static const unsigned char *parse_string(cJSON *item, const unsigned char *str,
         goto fail;
     }
 
-    ptr = str + 1;
     ptr2 = out;
     /* loop through the string literal */
     while (ptr < end_ptr)