diff --git a/wp-includes/formatting.php b/wp-includes/formatting.php
index 9a623896c8..9d93817e64 100644
--- a/wp-includes/formatting.php
+++ b/wp-includes/formatting.php
@@ -214,8 +214,6 @@ function wptexturize($text, $reset = false) {
 
 	$textarr = preg_split( $regex, $text, -1, PREG_SPLIT_DELIM_CAPTURE | PREG_SPLIT_NO_EMPTY );
 
-	$do_times_check = ( 1 === preg_match( '/(?<=\d)x-?\d/', $text ) );
-
 	foreach ( $textarr as &$curl ) {
 		// Only call _wptexturize_pushpop_element if $curl is a delimeter.
 		$first = $curl[0];
@@ -244,7 +242,7 @@ function wptexturize($text, $reset = false) {
 			$curl = preg_replace($dynamic_characters, $dynamic_replacements, $curl);
 
 			// 9x9 (times), but never 0x9999
-			if ( $do_times_check ) {
+			if ( 1 === preg_match( '/(?<=\d)x-?\d/', $curl ) ) {
 				// Searching for a digit is 10 times more expensive than for the x, so we avoid doing this one!
 				$curl = preg_replace( '/\b(\d(?(?<=0)[\d\.,]+|[\d\.,]*))x(-?\d[\d\.,]*)\b/', '$1&#215;$2', $curl );
 			}