diff -Naur ncurses-hexedit-0.9.7.orig/src/windows.c ncurses-hexedit-0.9.7/src/windows.c
--- ncurses-hexedit-0.9.7.orig/src/windows.c	2009-04-14 14:53:56.000000000 +0200
+++ ncurses-hexedit-0.9.7/src/windows.c	2009-04-14 15:31:00.000000000 +0200
@@ -692,20 +692,21 @@
             spot = boyer_moore_search (retr->str, offset + 1,
                                  last_str_len = retr->len,
                                  Globals.filesize - offset);
+         if (laststr)
+            free (laststr);
+         laststr = malloc (retr->len + 1);
+         memset (laststr, 0x00, retr->len + 1);
+         memcpy (laststr, retr->str, retr->len);
+         free (retr->str);
+         retr->str = NULL;
+         retr->len = 0;
+
          if (spot && spot->flag)
          {
             offset += spot->offset + 1; /* started search one character
                                           ahead of offset */
             cursor_y = 1;
             cursor_x = mappos (offset & M_0x0F);
-            if (laststr)
-               free (laststr);
-            laststr = malloc (retr->len + 1);
-            memset (laststr, 0x00, retr->len + 1);
-            memcpy (laststr, retr->str, retr->len);
-            free (retr->str);
-            retr->str = NULL;
-            retr->len = 0;
          }
          else
          {