diff --git a/src/core/utf8.c b/src/core/utf8.c
index 6daa878a..1daaf03f 100644
--- a/src/core/utf8.c
+++ b/src/core/utf8.c
@@ -26,7 +26,7 @@
 #include "module.h"
 #include "wcwidth.c"
 
-int advance(char const **str, gboolean utf8)
+int string_advance(char const **str, gboolean utf8)
 {
 	if (utf8) {
 		gunichar c;
diff --git a/src/core/utf8.h b/src/core/utf8.h
index 09397f69..50ee0886 100644
--- a/src/core/utf8.h
+++ b/src/core/utf8.h
@@ -17,7 +17,7 @@ int mk_wcwidth(unichar c);
 /* Advance the str pointer one character further; return the number of columns
  * occupied by the skipped character.
  */
-int advance(char const **str, gboolean utf8);
+int string_advance(char const **str, gboolean utf8);
 
 #define unichar_isprint(c) (((c) & ~0x80) >= 32)
 #define is_utf8_leading(c) (((c) & 0xc0) != 0x80)
diff --git a/src/fe-common/core/formats.c b/src/fe-common/core/formats.c
index 7daecfcf..def03e10 100644
--- a/src/fe-common/core/formats.c
+++ b/src/fe-common/core/formats.c
@@ -449,7 +449,7 @@ int format_get_length(const char *str)
 				len++;
 		}
 
-		len += advance(&str, utf8);
+		len += string_advance(&str, utf8);
 	}
 
 	g_string_free(tmp, TRUE);
@@ -491,7 +491,7 @@ int format_real_length(const char *str, int len)
 		}
 
 		oldstr = str;
-		len -= advance(&str, utf8);
+		len -= string_advance(&str, utf8);
 		if (len < 0)
 			str = oldstr;
 	}