diff --git a/lib/http_aws_sigv4.c b/lib/http_aws_sigv4.c
index 210c3dbe56..3145a9947a 100644
--- a/lib/http_aws_sigv4.c
+++ b/lib/http_aws_sigv4.c
@@ -202,12 +202,12 @@ CURLcode Curl_output_aws_sigv4(struct Curl_easy *data, bool proxy)
   if(!service) {
     tmp0 = hostname;
     tmp1 = strchr(tmp0, '.');
-    len = tmp1 - tmp0;
-    if(!tmp1 || len < 1) {
+    if(!tmp1) {
       infof(data, "service missing in parameters or hostname");
       ret = CURLE_URL_MALFORMAT;
       goto fail;
     }
+    len = tmp1 - tmp0;
     service = Curl_memdup(tmp0, len + 1);
     if(!service) {
       goto fail;
@@ -217,12 +217,12 @@ CURLcode Curl_output_aws_sigv4(struct Curl_easy *data, bool proxy)
     if(!region) {
       tmp0 = tmp1 + 1;
       tmp1 = strchr(tmp0, '.');
-      len = tmp1 - tmp0;
-      if(!tmp1 || len < 1) {
+      if(!tmp1) {
         infof(data, "region missing in parameters or hostname");
         ret = CURLE_URL_MALFORMAT;
         goto fail;
       }
+      len = tmp1 - tmp0;
       region = Curl_memdup(tmp0, len + 1);
       if(!region) {
         goto fail;