It is known that for any nonnegative initial value $u_0 (x)$, the solution $u(x,t)$ of the initial-boundary value problem $u_t = {\operatorname{div}}(|\nabla u|^{m - 1} \nabla u)$ in a bounded domain $\Omega \subset R^N $ with $u|_{\partial \Omega } = 0$, where $0 < m < 1$, becomes degenerate in finite time $T > 0$, i.e., it tends to zero as $t \to T$. Therefore, it is important to know the spatial pattern of $u(x,t)$ as $t \to T^ - $. In this paper we study this problem and prove that the spatial pattern is characterized by solutions which are in the form of separation of variables and have the same extinction time T.