diff --git a/libr/core/cmd_anal.c b/libr/core/cmd_anal.c
index 1a3197a177..bf93576ec0 100644
--- a/libr/core/cmd_anal.c
+++ b/libr/core/cmd_anal.c
@@ -2280,44 +2280,40 @@ static void cmd_anal_esil(RCore *core, const char *input) {
 			cmd_aea (core, 0, core->offset, r_num_math (core->num, input+2));
 		}
 		break;
-	case 'x':{ // "aex"
+	case 'x': { // "aex"
 		ut32 new_bits = -1;
 		int segoff, old_bits, pos = 0;
-		bool settings_changed = false;
 		char *new_arch = NULL, *old_arch = NULL, *hex = NULL;
 		old_arch = strdup (r_config_get (core->config, "asm.arch"));
 		old_bits = r_config_get_i (core->config, "asm.bits");
 		segoff = r_config_get_i (core->config, "asm.segoff");
 
-		if (input[0])
+		if (input[0]) {
 			for (pos = 1; pos < R_BIN_SIZEOF_STRINGS && input[pos]; pos++)
 				if (input[pos] == ' ') break;
+		}
 
 		if (!r_core_process_input_pade (core, input+pos, &hex, &new_arch, &new_bits)) {
 			// XXX - print help message
 			//return false;
 		}
 
-		if (new_arch == NULL) new_arch = strdup (old_arch);
+		if (!new_arch) new_arch = strdup (old_arch);
 		if (new_bits == -1) new_bits = old_bits;
 
-		if (strcmp (new_arch, old_arch) != 0 || new_bits != old_bits){
+		if (strcmp (new_arch, old_arch) || new_bits != old_bits) {
 			r_core_set_asm_configs (core, new_arch, new_bits, segoff);
-			settings_changed = true;
 		}
 		int ret, bufsz;
 		RAnalOp aop = {0};
-		const char *str;
-		char *str2 = NULL;
 		bufsz = r_hex_str2bin (hex, (ut8*)hex);
 		ret = r_anal_op (core->anal, &aop, core->offset,
 			(const ut8*)hex, bufsz);
 		if (ret>0) {
-			str = R_STRBUF_SAFEGET (&aop.esil);
-			str2 = calloc(sizeof(char), strlen(str)+1);
-			strcat(str2," ");
-			strcat(str2, str);
+			const char *str = R_STRBUF_SAFEGET (&aop.esil);
+			char *str2 = r_str_newf (" %s", str);
 			cmd_anal_esil (core, str2);
+			free (str2);
 		}
 		r_anal_op_fini (&aop);
 		}