diff --git a/tinyxml2.cpp b/tinyxml2.cpp
index f6e2584..e70c77d 100755
--- a/tinyxml2.cpp
+++ b/tinyxml2.cpp
@@ -1861,7 +1861,6 @@ XMLError XMLDocument::SaveFile( FILE* fp, bool compact )
 
 XMLError XMLDocument::Parse( const char* p, size_t len )
 {
-	const char* start = p;
     Clear();
 
     if ( len == 0 || !p || !*p ) {
@@ -1875,6 +1874,7 @@ XMLError XMLDocument::Parse( const char* p, size_t len )
     memcpy( _charBuffer, p, len );
     _charBuffer[len] = 0;
 
+    const char* start = p;
     p = XMLUtil::SkipWhiteSpace( p );
     p = XMLUtil::ReadBOM( p, &_writeBOM );
     if ( !p || !*p ) {
diff --git a/tinyxml2.h b/tinyxml2.h
index 35da4d9..b88e2d0 100755
--- a/tinyxml2.h
+++ b/tinyxml2.h
@@ -562,10 +562,10 @@ public:
     }
 
     inline static bool StringEqual( const char* p, const char* q, int nChar=INT_MAX )  {
-        int n = 0;
         if ( p == q ) {
             return true;
         }
+        int n = 0;
         while( *p && *q && *p == *q && n<nChar ) {
             ++p;
             ++q;