1 files changed, 4 insertions, 1 deletions

diff --git a/coreutils/od_bloaty.c b/coreutils/od_bloaty.c
index 8ed8f0be4..bd6c75385 100644
--- a/coreutils/od_bloaty.c
+++ b/coreutils/od_bloaty.c
@@ -1183,12 +1183,15 @@ int od_main(int argc UNUSED_PARAM, char **argv)
                 "read-bytes\0"        Required_argument "N"
                 "format\0"            Required_argument "t"
                 "output-duplicates\0" No_argument       "v"
+                /* Yes, it's true: -S NUM, but --strings[=NUM]!
+                 * that is, NUM is mandatory for -S but optional for --strings!
+                 */
                 "strings\0"           Optional_argument "S"
                 "width\0"             Optional_argument "w"
                 "traditional\0"       No_argument       "\xff"
                 ;
 #endif
-        char *str_A, *str_N, *str_j, *str_S;
+        const char *str_A, *str_N, *str_j, *str_S = "3";
         llist_t *lst_t = NULL;
         unsigned opt;
         int l_c_m;