diff --git a/ext/simplexml/simplexml.c b/ext/simplexml/simplexml.c
index 1d74853cd9c..2ec0ca4ab8a 100644
--- a/ext/simplexml/simplexml.c
+++ b/ext/simplexml/simplexml.c
@@ -1294,9 +1294,8 @@ SXE_METHOD(xpath)
 
 	result = retval->nodesetval;
 
-	array_init(return_value);
-
 	if (result != NULL) {
+		array_init(return_value);
 		for (i = 0; i < result->nodeNr; ++i) {
 			nodeptr = result->nodeTab[i];
 			if (nodeptr->type == XML_TEXT_NODE || nodeptr->type == XML_ELEMENT_NODE || nodeptr->type == XML_ATTRIBUTE_NODE) {
@@ -1317,6 +1316,8 @@ SXE_METHOD(xpath)
 				add_next_index_zval(return_value, value);
 			}
 		}
+	} else {
+		RETVAL_FALSE;
 	}
 
 	xmlXPathFreeObject(retval);