diff --git a/src/vrt.c b/src/vrt.c
index bdb1119..6fe6330 100644
--- a/src/vrt.c
+++ b/src/vrt.c
@@ -410,8 +410,7 @@ int vrt_closedir(DIR_P *iter) {
         }
     }
 
-    // root path is not allocated
-    if (iter->path && *iter->path != 0) {
+    if (iter->path) {
         free(iter->path);
         iter->path = NULL;
     }