diff --git a/gcc/fortran/ChangeLog b/gcc/fortran/ChangeLog
index 89825e35cc4..6be5141023b 100644
--- a/gcc/fortran/ChangeLog
+++ b/gcc/fortran/ChangeLog
@@ -1,3 +1,9 @@
+2011-07-30  Thomas Koenig  <tkoenig@gcc.gnu.org>
+
+	PR fortran/48876
+	* expr.c (gfc_simplify_expr):  If end of a string is less
+	than zero, set it to zero.
+
 2011-07-28  Jakub Jelinek  <jakub@redhat.com>
 
 	PR fortran/31067
diff --git a/gcc/fortran/expr.c b/gcc/fortran/expr.c
index e5394b876df..549feee61c7 100644
--- a/gcc/fortran/expr.c
+++ b/gcc/fortran/expr.c
@@ -1839,6 +1839,9 @@ gfc_simplify_expr (gfc_expr *p, int type)
 	  if (p->ref && p->ref->u.ss.end)
 	    gfc_extract_int (p->ref->u.ss.end, &end);
 
+	  if (end < 0)
+	    end = 0;
+
 	  s = gfc_get_wide_string (end - start + 2);
 	  memcpy (s, p->value.character.string + start,
 		  (end - start) * sizeof (gfc_char_t));
diff --git a/gcc/testsuite/ChangeLog b/gcc/testsuite/ChangeLog
index 187a808fe51..3a681d8d315 100644
--- a/gcc/testsuite/ChangeLog
+++ b/gcc/testsuite/ChangeLog
@@ -1,3 +1,8 @@
+2011-07-30  Thomas Koenig  <tkoenig@gcc.gnu.org>
+
+	PR fortran/48876
+	* gfortran.dg/string_5.f90:  New test.
+
 2011-07-29  Jason Merrill  <jason@redhat.com>
 
 	PR c++/49867
diff --git a/gcc/testsuite/gfortran.dg/string_5.f90 b/gcc/testsuite/gfortran.dg/string_5.f90
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..87ec70942a5
--- /dev/null
+++ b/gcc/testsuite/gfortran.dg/string_5.f90
@@ -0,0 +1,7 @@
+! { dg-do compile }
+! PR fortran/48876 - this used to segfault.
+! Test case contributed by mhp77 (a) gmx.at.
+program test
+  character ::  string =  "string"( : -1 )
+end program test
+