diff --git a/src/common/hostlist.c b/src/common/hostlist.c
index eb7db7c8ae1f79d704db051568abeda8b39dca3c..d576f57d155bd35686b5f9cb454953d0246bff5a 100644
--- a/src/common/hostlist.c
+++ b/src/common/hostlist.c
@@ -168,6 +168,8 @@ strong_alias(hostset_nth,		slurm_hostset_nth);
 /* ----[ Internal Data Structures ]---- */
 
 
+char *alpha_num = "0123456789ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUZWXYZ";
+
 #ifdef HAVE_BG		
 /* logic for block node description */
 /* We allocate space for three digits, 
@@ -175,7 +177,6 @@ strong_alias(hostset_nth,		slurm_hostset_nth);
 bool axis[HOSTLIST_BASE][HOSTLIST_BASE][HOSTLIST_BASE];
 int axis_min_x, axis_min_y, axis_min_z;
 int axis_max_x, axis_max_y, axis_max_z;
-char *alpha_num = "0123456789ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUZWXYZ";
 
 static int _get_boxes(char *buf, int max_len);
 static void _clear_grid(void);
diff --git a/src/common/hostlist.h b/src/common/hostlist.h
index 45a71215c25e4556990228923c45ceedf83fc7d2..55d5231572326acfae5c4053a2e0e4f1a746d1e9 100644
--- a/src/common/hostlist.h
+++ b/src/common/hostlist.h
@@ -45,11 +45,12 @@
 
 #ifdef HAVE_BG
 #define HOSTLIST_BASE 36
-extern char *alpha_num;
 #else
 #define HOSTLIST_BASE 10
 #endif
 
+extern char *alpha_num;
+
 /* Notes:
  *
  * If WITH_LSD_FATAL_ERROR_FUNC is defined, the linker will expect to