diff --git a/src/encoding/json/decode.go b/src/encoding/json/decode.go
index 858a2ed41a1..72188a66f60 100644
--- a/src/encoding/json/decode.go
+++ b/src/encoding/json/decode.go
@@ -962,13 +962,12 @@ func (d *decodeState) literalStore(item []byte, v reflect.Value, fromQuoted bool
 			}
 			panic(phasePanicMsg)
 		}
-		s := string(item)
 		switch v.Kind() {
 		default:
 			if v.Kind() == reflect.String && v.Type() == numberType {
 				// s must be a valid number, because it's
 				// already been tokenized.
-				v.SetString(s)
+				v.SetString(string(item))
 				break
 			}
 			if fromQuoted {
@@ -976,7 +975,7 @@ func (d *decodeState) literalStore(item []byte, v reflect.Value, fromQuoted bool
 			}
 			d.saveError(&UnmarshalTypeError{Value: "number", Type: v.Type(), Offset: int64(d.readIndex())})
 		case reflect.Interface:
-			n, err := d.convertNumber(s)
+			n, err := d.convertNumber(string(item))
 			if err != nil {
 				d.saveError(err)
 				break
@@ -988,25 +987,25 @@ func (d *decodeState) literalStore(item []byte, v reflect.Value, fromQuoted bool
 			v.Set(reflect.ValueOf(n))
 
 		case reflect.Int, reflect.Int8, reflect.Int16, reflect.Int32, reflect.Int64:
-			n, err := strconv.ParseInt(s, 10, 64)
+			n, err := strconv.ParseInt(string(item), 10, 64)
 			if err != nil || v.OverflowInt(n) {
-				d.saveError(&UnmarshalTypeError{Value: "number " + s, Type: v.Type(), Offset: int64(d.readIndex())})
+				d.saveError(&UnmarshalTypeError{Value: "number " + string(item), Type: v.Type(), Offset: int64(d.readIndex())})
 				break
 			}
 			v.SetInt(n)
 
 		case reflect.Uint, reflect.Uint8, reflect.Uint16, reflect.Uint32, reflect.Uint64, reflect.Uintptr:
-			n, err := strconv.ParseUint(s, 10, 64)
+			n, err := strconv.ParseUint(string(item), 10, 64)
 			if err != nil || v.OverflowUint(n) {
-				d.saveError(&UnmarshalTypeError{Value: "number " + s, Type: v.Type(), Offset: int64(d.readIndex())})
+				d.saveError(&UnmarshalTypeError{Value: "number " + string(item), Type: v.Type(), Offset: int64(d.readIndex())})
 				break
 			}
 			v.SetUint(n)
 
 		case reflect.Float32, reflect.Float64:
-			n, err := strconv.ParseFloat(s, v.Type().Bits())
+			n, err := strconv.ParseFloat(string(item), v.Type().Bits())
 			if err != nil || v.OverflowFloat(n) {
-				d.saveError(&UnmarshalTypeError{Value: "number " + s, Type: v.Type(), Offset: int64(d.readIndex())})
+				d.saveError(&UnmarshalTypeError{Value: "number " + string(item), Type: v.Type(), Offset: int64(d.readIndex())})
 				break
 			}
 			v.SetFloat(n)