diff --git a/string.c b/string.c
index cdb8658d7f..5b3c7cd57b 100644
--- a/string.c
+++ b/string.c
@@ -3186,8 +3186,8 @@ rb_enc_cr_str_buf_cat(VALUE str, const char *ptr, long len,
             if (len == 0)
                 return str;
             if (RSTRING_LEN(str) == 0) {
-                rb_str_buf_cat(str, ptr, len);
                 ENCODING_CODERANGE_SET(str, ptr_encindex, ptr_cr);
+                rb_str_buf_cat(str, ptr, len);
                 return str;
             }
             goto incompatible;