diff --git a/src/attr.c b/src/attr.c
index 3fe76d124..fa1a4f121 100644
--- a/src/attr.c
+++ b/src/attr.c
@@ -232,7 +232,7 @@ int git_attr_cache__push_file(
 	file = git_hashtable_lookup(cache->files, filename);
 	if (file == NULL && git_futils_exists(filename) == GIT_SUCCESS) {
 		if ((error = git_attr_file__new(&file)) == GIT_SUCCESS)
-			error = (*loader)(repo, filename, file);
+			error = loader(repo, filename, file);
 		add_to_cache = (error == GIT_SUCCESS);
 	}
 
diff --git a/src/attr_file.c b/src/attr_file.c
index f6eaad69d..4303c7667 100644
--- a/src/attr_file.c
+++ b/src/attr_file.c
@@ -363,8 +363,18 @@ int git_attr_fnmatch__parse(
 		*base = git__next_line(pattern);
 		return GIT_ENOMEM;
 	} else {
-		/* remove '\' that might have be used for internal whitespace */
-		spec->length = git__removechar(spec->pattern, '\\');
+		/* strip '\' that might have be used for internal whitespace */
+		char *to = spec->pattern;
+		for (scan = spec->pattern; *scan; to++, scan++) {
+			if (*scan == '\\')
+				scan++; /* skip '\' but include next char */
+			if (to != scan)
+				*to = *scan;
+		}
+		if (to != scan) {
+			*to = '\0';
+			spec->length = (to - spec->pattern);
+		}
 	}
 
 	return GIT_SUCCESS;
diff --git a/src/util.c b/src/util.c
index f47de9e53..1ca9d850c 100644
--- a/src/util.c
+++ b/src/util.c
@@ -156,23 +156,6 @@ void git__strtolower(char *str)
 	git__strntolower(str, strlen(str));
 }
 
-size_t git__removechar(char *str, char remove)
-{
-	char *from = str, *to = str;
-
-	while (*from) {
-		if (*from == remove)
-			from++;
-		if (to != from)
-			*to = *from;
-		to++;
-		from++;
-	}
-	*to = '\0';
-
-	return (to - str);
-}
-
 int git__prefixcmp(const char *str, const char *prefix)
 {
 	for (;;) {
diff --git a/src/util.h b/src/util.h
index 818e6f0f2..6c929cf0a 100644
--- a/src/util.h
+++ b/src/util.h
@@ -102,8 +102,6 @@ extern char *git__strtok(char **end, const char *sep);
 extern void git__strntolower(char *str, size_t len);
 extern void git__strtolower(char *str);
 
-extern size_t git__removechar(char *str, char remove);
-
 GIT_INLINE(const char *) git__next_line(const char *s)
 {
 	while (*s && *s != '\n') s++;