diff --git a/src/buffer.c b/src/buffer.c
index e91b7c8..420b5ea 100644
--- a/src/buffer.c
+++ b/src/buffer.c
@@ -3460,6 +3460,18 @@
     prevchar_isitem = FALSE;
     for (s = usefmt; *s; )
     {
+	if (curitem == STL_MAX_ITEM)
+	{
+	    /* There are too many items.  Add the error code to the statusline
+	     * to give the user a hint about what went wrong. */
+	    if (p + 6 < out + outlen)
+	    {
+		mch_memmove(p, " E541", (size_t)5);
+		p += 5;
+	    }
+	    break;
+	}
+
 	if (*s != NUL && *s != '%')
 	    prevchar_isflag = prevchar_isitem = FALSE;