diff --git a/diff.c b/diff.c
index 4f430f44e6..7a23adf254 100644
--- a/diff.c
+++ b/diff.c
@@ -629,10 +629,7 @@ static void emit_line_0(struct diff_options *o,
 	int nofirst;
 	FILE *file = o->file;
 
-	if (first)
-		fputs(diff_line_prefix(o), file);
-	else if (!len)
-		return;
+	fputs(diff_line_prefix(o), file);
 
 	if (len == 0) {
 		has_trailing_newline = (first == '\n');