diff --git a/src/load.c b/src/load.c
index f05230b..731aced 100644
--- a/src/load.c
+++ b/src/load.c
@@ -805,10 +805,10 @@ json_t *json_loads(const char *string, size_t flags, json_error_t *error)
 {
     lex_t lex;
     json_t *result;
-    (void)flags; /* unused */
-
     string_data_t stream_data = {string, 0};
 
+    (void)flags; /* unused */
+
     if(lex_init(&lex, string_get, string_eof, (void *)&stream_data))
         return NULL;