1 files changed, 5 insertions, 5 deletions
diff --git a/bin/irb b/bin/irb
index e44609a1b0..ae6d358c9d 100755
--- a/bin/irb
+++ b/bin/irb
@@ -10,11 +10,11 @@ require 'rubygems'
 
 version = ">= 0.a"
 
-if ARGV.first
-  str = ARGV.first
-  str = str.dup.force_encoding("BINARY") if str.respond_to? :force_encoding
-  if str =~ /\A_(.*)_\z/ and Gem::Version.correct?($1) then
-    version = $1
+str = ARGV.first
+if str
+  str = str.b[/\A_(.*)_\z/, 1]
+  if str and Gem::Version.correct?(str)
+    version = str
     ARGV.shift
   end
 end