diff --git a/biojava-core/src/main/java/org/biojava/nbio/core/sequence/io/GenericFastaHeaderParser.java b/biojava-core/src/main/java/org/biojava/nbio/core/sequence/io/GenericFastaHeaderParser.java
index 9acaf1d25c..a53e3141f1 100644
--- a/biojava-core/src/main/java/org/biojava/nbio/core/sequence/io/GenericFastaHeaderParser.java
+++ b/biojava-core/src/main/java/org/biojava/nbio/core/sequence/io/GenericFastaHeaderParser.java
@@ -93,9 +93,9 @@ private String[] getHeaderValues(String header) {
 					sb.append(header.charAt(i));
 				}
 
-				data = new String[values.size()];
-				values.toArray(data);
 			}
+			data = new String[values.size()];
+			values.toArray(data);
 		} else {
 			data = header.split(" ");
 		}