diff --git a/include/nlohmann/detail/input/input_adapters.hpp b/include/nlohmann/detail/input/input_adapters.hpp
index bba61abea..c4b097903 100644
--- a/include/nlohmann/detail/input/input_adapters.hpp
+++ b/include/nlohmann/detail/input/input_adapters.hpp
@@ -64,11 +64,7 @@ class file_input_adapter
 
     std::char_traits<char>::int_type get_character() noexcept
     {
-        if (JSON_HEDLEY_LIKELY(m_file != nullptr))
-        {
-            return std::fgetc(m_file);
-        }
-        return std::char_traits<char>::eof(); // LCOV_EXCL_LINE
+        return std::fgetc(m_file);
     }
 
   private:
diff --git a/single_include/nlohmann/json.hpp b/single_include/nlohmann/json.hpp
index 9c6dbb6b0..271ff635e 100644
--- a/single_include/nlohmann/json.hpp
+++ b/single_include/nlohmann/json.hpp
@@ -5951,11 +5951,7 @@ class file_input_adapter
 
     std::char_traits<char>::int_type get_character() noexcept
     {
-        if (JSON_HEDLEY_LIKELY(m_file != nullptr))
-        {
-            return std::fgetc(m_file);
-        }
-        return std::char_traits<char>::eof(); // LCOV_EXCL_LINE
+        return std::fgetc(m_file);
     }
 
   private: