diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index 50db65a..ba5d96f 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -22,7 +22,7 @@ LIBUTFSRC =\
 	libutf/rune.c\
 	libutf/runetype.c\
 	libutf/utf.c\
-	libutf/chartorunearr.c\
+	libutf/utftorunestr.c\
 	libutf/fgetrune.c\
 	libutf/fputrune.c\
 	libutf/isalnumrune.c\
diff --git a/libutf/chartorunearr.c b/libutf/chartorunearr.c
deleted file mode 100644
index 1484d14..0000000
--- a/libutf/chartorunearr.c
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,27 +0,0 @@
-/* See LICENSE file for copyright and license details. */
-#include <stdlib.h>
-#include <string.h>
-
-#include "../util.h"
-#include "../utf.h"
-
-int
-chartorunearr(const char *str, Rune **r)
-{
-	size_t len = strlen(str), rlen, roff, ret = 1, i;
-	Rune s;
-
-	for (rlen = 0, roff = 0; roff < len && ret; rlen++) {
-		ret = charntorune(&s, str + roff, MAX(UTFmax, len - roff));
-		roff += ret;
-	}
-
-	*r = emalloc(rlen * sizeof(Rune) + 1);
-	(*r)[rlen] = 0;
-
-	for (i = 0, roff = 0; roff < len && i < rlen; i++) {
-		roff += charntorune(&(*r)[i], str + roff, MAX(UTFmax, len - roff));
-	}
-
-	return rlen;
-}
diff --git a/libutf/utftorunestr.c b/libutf/utftorunestr.c
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..005fe8a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/libutf/utftorunestr.c
@@ -0,0 +1,13 @@
+/* See LICENSE file for copyright and license details. */
+#include "../utf.h"
+
+int
+utftorunestr(const char *str, Rune *r)
+{
+	int i, n;
+
+	for(i = 0; (n = chartorune(&r[i], str)) && r[i]; i++)
+		str += n;
+
+	return i;
+}
diff --git a/paste.c b/paste.c
index cd7eb3e..1b06433 100644
--- a/paste.c
+++ b/paste.c
@@ -110,7 +110,8 @@ main(int argc, char *argv[])
 
 	/* populate delimiters */
 	unescape(adelim);
-	len = chartorunearr(adelim, &delim);
+	delim = emalloc((utflen(adelim) + 1) * sizeof(*delim));
+	len = utftorunestr(adelim, delim);
 
 	/* populate file list */
 	dsc = emalloc(argc * sizeof(*dsc));
diff --git a/tr.c b/tr.c
index fa3d412..a38153d 100644
--- a/tr.c
+++ b/tr.c
@@ -79,7 +79,8 @@ makeset(char *str, struct range **set, int (**check)(Rune))
 
 	/* rstr defines at most len ranges */
 	unescape(str);
-	len = chartorunearr(str, &rstr);
+	rstr = emalloc((utflen(str) + 1) * sizeof(*rstr));
+	len = utftorunestr(str, rstr);
 	*set = emalloc(len * sizeof(**set));
 
 	for (i = 0; i < len; i++) {
diff --git a/utf.h b/utf.h
index 203849a..a74be94 100644
--- a/utf.h
+++ b/utf.h
@@ -59,9 +59,9 @@ int isxdigitrune(Rune);
 Rune tolowerrune(Rune);
 Rune toupperrune(Rune);
 
+int utftorunestr(const char*, Rune *);
+
 int fgetrune(Rune *, FILE *);
 int efgetrune(Rune *, FILE *, const char *);
 int fputrune(const Rune *, FILE *);
 int efputrune(const Rune *, FILE *, const char *);
-
-int chartorunearr(const char*, Rune **);