diff --git a/Lib/shutil.py b/Lib/shutil.py
index 2cb5ef848c2..273a7d2f432 100644
--- a/Lib/shutil.py
+++ b/Lib/shutil.py
@@ -188,9 +188,9 @@ def _copyfileobj_readinto(fsrc, fdst, length=COPY_BUFSIZE):
 
 def copyfileobj(fsrc, fdst, length=0):
     """copy data from file-like object fsrc to file-like object fdst"""
-    # Localize variable access to minimize overhead.
     if not length:
         length = COPY_BUFSIZE
+    # Localize variable access to minimize overhead.
     fsrc_read = fsrc.read
     fdst_write = fdst.write
     while True: