diff --git a/usr.bin/grep/regex/tre-fastmatch.c b/usr.bin/grep/regex/tre-fastmatch.c
index da242842a0d3..5c659b09f48e 100644
--- a/usr.bin/grep/regex/tre-fastmatch.c
+++ b/usr.bin/grep/regex/tre-fastmatch.c
@@ -715,7 +715,7 @@ tre_compile_fast(fastmatch_t *fg, const tre_char_t *pat, size_t n,
       if (fg->wescmap != NULL)
 	{
 	  fg->escmap = calloc(fg->len, sizeof(bool));
-	  if (fg->escmap != NULL)
+	  if (fg->escmap == NULL)
 	    {
 	      tre_free_fast(fg);
 	      return REG_ESPACE;