diff --git a/flume-ng-sources/flume-taildir-source/src/main/java/org/apache/flume/source/taildir/TaildirMatcher.java b/flume-ng-sources/flume-taildir-source/src/main/java/org/apache/flume/source/taildir/TaildirMatcher.java
index ad9f720170..384e5498c9 100644
--- a/flume-ng-sources/flume-taildir-source/src/main/java/org/apache/flume/source/taildir/TaildirMatcher.java
+++ b/flume-ng-sources/flume-taildir-source/src/main/java/org/apache/flume/source/taildir/TaildirMatcher.java
@@ -184,7 +184,6 @@ List<File> getMatchingFiles() {
     long now = TimeUnit.SECONDS.toMillis(
         TimeUnit.MILLISECONDS.toSeconds(System.currentTimeMillis()));
     long currentParentDirMTime = parentDir.lastModified();
-    List<File> result;
 
     // calculate matched files if
     // - we don't want to use cache (recalculate every time) OR