diff --git a/src/corelib/tools/qstring.cpp b/src/corelib/tools/qstring.cpp
index 01fe98f2391..7a5f9b3614f 100644
--- a/src/corelib/tools/qstring.cpp
+++ b/src/corelib/tools/qstring.cpp
@@ -4019,10 +4019,9 @@ QString QString::section(const QString &sep, int start, int end, SectionFlags fl
     if (start >= sectionsSize || end < 0 || start > end)
         return QString();
 
-    int x = 0;
     QString ret;
     int first_i = start, last_i = end;
-    for (int i = 0; x <= end && i < sectionsSize; ++i) {
+    for (int x = 0, i = 0; x <= end && i < sectionsSize; ++i) {
         const QStringRef &section = sections.at(i);
         const bool empty = section.isEmpty();
         if (x >= start) {