diff --git a/admin/update_autogen b/admin/update_autogen
index d1833d0a84b..d1f49d9f25e 100755
--- a/admin/update_autogen
+++ b/admin/update_autogen
@@ -147,6 +147,7 @@ status ()
 
     local stat file modified
 
+    modified=""
     while read stat file; do
 
         [ "$stat" != "M" ] && \