diff --git a/libstdc++-v3/ChangeLog b/libstdc++-v3/ChangeLog
index 55e7538b39b..cc86e86db34 100644
--- a/libstdc++-v3/ChangeLog
+++ b/libstdc++-v3/ChangeLog
@@ -1,3 +1,7 @@
+2003-05-02  Paolo Carlini  <pcarlini@unitus.it>
+
+	* include/std/std_sstream.h (str()): Tidy.
+
 2003-05-02  Nathan Myers  <ncm@cantrip.org>
 	    Paolo Carlini  <pcarlini@unitus.it>
 
diff --git a/libstdc++-v3/include/std/std_sstream.h b/libstdc++-v3/include/std/std_sstream.h
index 1d9a54970c5..bc11323c721 100644
--- a/libstdc++-v3/include/std/std_sstream.h
+++ b/libstdc++-v3/include/std/std_sstream.h
@@ -133,15 +133,11 @@ namespace std
       __string_type
       str() const
       {
+	const bool __testout = this->_M_mode & ios_base::out;
 	__string_type __ret = _M_string;
-	if (this->_M_mode & ios_base::out)
-	  {
-	    const __size_type __nlen = this->_M_out_lim
-                                       - this->_M_out_beg;
-	    if (__nlen)
-	      __ret = __string_type(this->_M_out_beg, 
-				    this->_M_out_beg + __nlen);
-	  }
+	if (__testout && this->_M_out_beg < this->_M_out_lim)
+	  __ret = __string_type(this->_M_out_beg,
+				this->_M_out_lim);
 	return __ret;
       }