diff --git a/kitty/key_encoding.c b/kitty/key_encoding.c
index 9b86b3d35..a48f230d2 100644
--- a/kitty/key_encoding.c
+++ b/kitty/key_encoding.c
@@ -382,7 +382,7 @@ encode_key(const KeyEvent *ev, char *output) {
 
 static inline bool
 is_ascii_control_char(char c) {
-    return (0 <= c && c <= 31) || c == 127;
+    return c <= 31 || c == 127;
 }
 
 int