diff --git a/src/templates_hdf5/templator_hdf5.org b/src/templates_hdf5/templator_hdf5.org
index a328c4c..ddb8935 100644
--- a/src/templates_hdf5/templator_hdf5.org
+++ b/src/templates_hdf5/templator_hdf5.org
@@ -497,11 +497,7 @@ trexio_hdf5_read_$group_dset$ (trexio_t* const file, char* const $group_dset$, c
   // after calling H5Treclaim or H5Dvlen_reclaim functions
   strcpy($group_dset$, "");
   for (uint64_t i=0; i<dims[0]; i++) {
-    if (max_str_len < strlen(rdata[i])) {
-      strncat($group_dset$, rdata[i], max_str_len);
-    } else {
-      strcat($group_dset$, rdata[i]);
-    }
+    strncat($group_dset$, rdata[i], max_str_len);
     strcat($group_dset$, TREXIO_DELIM);
   }