diff --git a/diffcore-pickaxe.c b/diffcore-pickaxe.c
index 239ce5122b..800a899c86 100644
--- a/diffcore-pickaxe.c
+++ b/diffcore-pickaxe.c
@@ -215,7 +215,6 @@ static void regcomp_or_die(regex_t *regex, const char *needle, int cflags)
 		/* The POSIX.2 people are surely sick */
 		char errbuf[1024];
 		regerror(err, regex, errbuf, 1024);
-		regfree(regex);
 		die("invalid regex: %s", errbuf);
 	}
 }
diff --git a/grep.c b/grep.c
index 84f8054a3f..45ec7e636c 100644
--- a/grep.c
+++ b/grep.c
@@ -636,7 +636,6 @@ static void compile_fixed_regexp(struct grep_pat *p, struct grep_opt *opt)
 	if (err) {
 		char errbuf[1024];
 		regerror(err, &p->regexp, errbuf, sizeof(errbuf));
-		regfree(&p->regexp);
 		compile_regexp_failed(p, errbuf);
 	}
 }
@@ -701,7 +700,6 @@ static void compile_regexp(struct grep_pat *p, struct grep_opt *opt)
 	if (err) {
 		char errbuf[1024];
 		regerror(err, &p->regexp, errbuf, 1024);
-		regfree(&p->regexp);
 		compile_regexp_failed(p, errbuf);
 	}
 }