diff --git a/Modules/_cursesmodule.c b/Modules/_cursesmodule.c
index 2f8f7d64bd60b9..48c53fdc68b1f2 100644
--- a/Modules/_cursesmodule.c
+++ b/Modules/_cursesmodule.c
@@ -796,7 +796,7 @@ PyCursesWindow_New(cursesmodule_state *state,
 {
     if (encoding == NULL) {
 #if defined(MS_WINDOWS)
-        char *buffer[100];
+        char buffer[100];
         UINT cp;
         cp = GetConsoleOutputCP();
         if (cp != 0) {