diff --git a/std/xml.d b/std/xml.d
index 5027d0afa..6ceaf61f4 100644
--- a/std/xml.d
+++ b/std/xml.d
@@ -349,7 +349,7 @@ S encode(S)(S s)
 {
     string r;
     size_t lastI;
-    auto result = appender!string();
+    auto result = appender!S();
 
     foreach (i, c; s)
     {