diff --git a/src/getchar.c b/src/getchar.c
index 5b5b3ed..e82155f 100644
--- a/src/getchar.c
+++ b/src/getchar.c
@@ -4523,10 +4523,12 @@
 
 	    if (vim_strbyte(mp->m_keys, K_SPECIAL) != NULL)
 	    {
+		char_u *qe = vim_strsave(mp->m_keys);
+
 		/* might have CSI escaped mp->m_keys */
-		q = vim_strsave(mp->m_keys);
-		if (q != NULL)
+		if (qe != NULL)
 		{
+		    q = qe;
 		    vim_unescape_csi(q);
 		    qlen = (int)STRLEN(q);
 		}