2 files changed, 24 insertions, 9 deletions
diff --git a/libbb/auto_string.c b/libbb/auto_string.c
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..ae940069a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/libbb/auto_string.c
@@ -0,0 +1,23 @@
+/* vi: set sw=4 ts=4: */
+/*
+ * Utility routines.
+ *
+ * Copyright (C) 2015 Denys Vlasenko
+ *
+ * Licensed under GPLv2, see file LICENSE in this source tree.
+ */
+//kbuild:lib-y += auto_string.o
+
+#include "libbb.h"
+
+char* FAST_FUNC auto_string(char *str)
+{
+	static char *saved[4];
+	static uint8_t cur_saved; /* = 0 */
+
+	free(saved[cur_saved]);
+	saved[cur_saved] = str;
+	cur_saved = (cur_saved + 1) & (ARRAY_SIZE(saved)-1);
+
+	return str;
+}
diff --git a/libbb/printable_string.c b/libbb/printable_string.c
index a316f60de..077d58d32 100644
--- a/libbb/printable_string.c
+++ b/libbb/printable_string.c
@@ -11,9 +11,6 @@
 
 const char* FAST_FUNC printable_string(uni_stat_t *stats, const char *str)
 {
-	static char *saved[4];
-	static unsigned cur_saved; /* = 0 */
-
 	char *dst;
 	const char *s;
 
@@ -56,10 +53,5 @@ const char* FAST_FUNC printable_string(uni_stat_t *stats, const char *str)
 		}
 	}
 #endif
-
-	free(saved[cur_saved]);
-	saved[cur_saved] = dst;
-	cur_saved = (cur_saved + 1) & (ARRAY_SIZE(saved)-1);
-
-	return dst;
+	return auto_string(dst);
 }