diff --git a/src/ifcparse/IfcCharacterDecoder.cpp b/src/ifcparse/IfcCharacterDecoder.cpp
index 7287532ad3..1e11bda4b8 100644
--- a/src/ifcparse/IfcCharacterDecoder.cpp
+++ b/src/ifcparse/IfcCharacterDecoder.cpp
@@ -327,7 +327,7 @@ IfcCharacterEncoder::operator std::string() {
 	UChar32 ch;
 
 	const char* source = str.c_str();
-	const char* limit = &*str.end();
+	const char* limit = source + str.size();
 	
 	bool in_extended = false;