diff --git a/doc/api/stream.md b/doc/api/stream.md
index 14724e8311a45f..2bde10c1fefe65 100644
--- a/doc/api/stream.md
+++ b/doc/api/stream.md
@@ -1652,8 +1652,7 @@ const { StringDecoder } = require('string_decoder');
 class StringWritable extends Writable {
   constructor(options) {
     super(options);
-    const state = this._writableState;
-    this._decoder = new StringDecoder(state.defaultEncoding);
+    this._decoder = new StringDecoder(options && options.defaultEncoding);
     this.data = '';
   }
   _write(chunk, encoding, callback) {