diff --git a/pdns/ednspadding.cc b/pdns/ednspadding.cc
index d5ab8ee18738..cf677eb0ad5f 100644
--- a/pdns/ednspadding.cc
+++ b/pdns/ednspadding.cc
@@ -25,7 +25,7 @@
 std::string makeEDNSPaddingOptString(size_t bytes)
 {
   std::string ret;
-  ret.resize(bytes, '0');
+  ret.resize(bytes, 0);
   return ret;
 }