diff --git a/lz16/liblz16.lua b/lz16/liblz16.lua
index 140c4c1..e4ef668 100644
--- a/lz16/liblz16.lua
+++ b/lz16/liblz16.lua
@@ -11,15 +11,11 @@ local function cint(n,l)
  return string.reverse(string.char(table.unpack(t)):sub(1,l))
 end
 local function toint(s)
- s=s or ""
  local n = 0
  local i = 1
- while true do
-  local p = s:sub(i,i)
-  if p == "" then break end
-  local b = string.byte(p)
+ for p in s:gmatch(".") do
   n = n << 8
-  n = n | b
+  n = n | string.byte(p)
   i=i+1
  end
  return n