diff --git a/builtin/sparse-checkout.c b/builtin/sparse-checkout.c
index fb43bb7577..e648e035ab 100644
--- a/builtin/sparse-checkout.c
+++ b/builtin/sparse-checkout.c
@@ -95,6 +95,8 @@ static int sparse_checkout_list(int argc, const char **argv, const char *prefix)
 			quote_c_style(sl.items[i].string, NULL, stdout, 0);
 			printf("\n");
 		}
+
+		string_list_clear(&sl, 0);
 	} else {
 		write_patterns_to_file(stdout, &pl);
 	}