diff --git a/dw/hyphenator.cc b/dw/hyphenator.cc
index d436c97..74a947b 100644
--- a/dw/hyphenator.cc
+++ b/dw/hyphenator.cc
@@ -142,7 +142,6 @@ void Hyphenator::insertPattern (TrieBuilder *trieBuilder, char *s)
 {
    // Convert the a pattern like 'a1bc3d4' into a string of chars 'abcd'
    // and a list of points [ 0, 1, 0, 3, 4 ].
-   int l = strlen (s);
    std::string chars;
    SimpleVector<char> points (1);