diff --git a/src/getdata.c b/src/getdata.c
index 0a11559..beeff89 100644
--- a/src/getdata.c
+++ b/src/getdata.c
@@ -188,6 +188,8 @@ int nth_field(int n, char *restrict dest, const char *restrict src)
 		} else {
 			if (j == 0) {
 				wordn++;
+				if (n + 1 < wordn)
+					break;
 			}
 			if (wordn == n) {
 				dest[j] = src[i];