diff --git a/lib/Pico.php b/lib/Pico.php
index 156d0fe..bcea0f2 100644
--- a/lib/Pico.php
+++ b/lib/Pico.php
@@ -997,6 +997,8 @@ class Pico
      */
     public function prepareFileContent($rawContent, array $meta)
     {
+        $variables = array();
+
         // remove meta header
         $metaHeaderPattern = "/^(\/(\*)|---)[[:blank:]]*(?:\r)?\n"
             . "(?:(.*?)(?:\r)?\n)?(?(2)\*\/|---)[[:blank:]]*(?:(?:\r)?\n|$)/s";