diff --git a/sapi/cli/php_cli.c b/sapi/cli/php_cli.c
index 2e80c80b445..cf592eb3001 100644
--- a/sapi/cli/php_cli.c
+++ b/sapi/cli/php_cli.c
@@ -407,7 +407,7 @@ int main(int argc, char *argv[])
 				break;
 				
 			case 'f': /* parse file */
-				script_file = estrdup(ap_php_optarg);
+				script_file = ap_php_optarg;
 				no_headers = 1;
 				break;