diff --git a/Library/Homebrew/mktemp.rb b/Library/Homebrew/mktemp.rb
index a691fcecc0..8e6e9b0883 100644
--- a/Library/Homebrew/mktemp.rb
+++ b/Library/Homebrew/mktemp.rb
@@ -49,7 +49,7 @@ class Mktemp
     prefix_name = @prefix.tr "@", "AT"
     @tmpdir = if retain_in_cache?
       tmp_dir = HOMEBREW_CACHE/"Sources/#{prefix_name}"
-      chmod_rm_rf(tmpdir) # clear out previous staging directory
+      chmod_rm_rf(tmp_dir) # clear out previous staging directory
       tmp_dir.mkpath
       tmp_dir
     else