diff --git a/text-utils/rev.c b/text-utils/rev.c
index 7a42d7e49..b69244971 100644
--- a/text-utils/rev.c
+++ b/text-utils/rev.c
@@ -59,6 +59,7 @@
 #include <signal.h>
 
 #include "nls.h"
+#include "xalloc.h"
 #include "widechar.h"
 
 wchar_t *buf;
@@ -117,9 +118,7 @@ int main(int argc, char *argv[])
 			filename = *argv++;
 		}
 
-		buf = malloc(bufsiz * sizeof(wchar_t));
-		if (!buf)
-			err(EXIT_FAILURE, _("malloc failed"));
+		buf = xmalloc(bufsiz * sizeof(wchar_t));
 
 		while (fgetws(buf, bufsiz, fp)) {
 			len = wcslen(buf);