diff --git a/builtin.cpp b/builtin.cpp
index 4c55b0959..c880d1597 100644
--- a/builtin.cpp
+++ b/builtin.cpp
@@ -59,8 +59,6 @@
 #include "signal.h"
 #include "exec.h"
 #include "highlight.h"
-#include "halloc.h"
-#include "halloc_util.h"
 #include "parse_util.h"
 #include "parser_keywords.h"
 #include "expand.h"
diff --git a/exec.cpp b/exec.cpp
index d987a0c7e..2d5021f54 100644
--- a/exec.cpp
+++ b/exec.cpp
@@ -46,8 +46,6 @@
 #include "expand.h"
 #include "signal.h"
 
-#include "halloc.h"
-#include "halloc_util.h"
 #include "parse_util.h"
 
 /**
diff --git a/halloc_util.cpp b/halloc_util.cpp
index 45fb4b3a8..75a7f9235 100644
--- a/halloc_util.cpp
+++ b/halloc_util.cpp
@@ -74,19 +74,6 @@ void *halloc_register( void *context, void *data )
 	return data;
 }
 
-wchar_t *halloc_wcsdup( void *context, const wchar_t *in )
-{
-	size_t len=wcslen(in);
-	wchar_t *out = (wchar_t *)halloc( context, sizeof( wchar_t)*(len+1));
-	
-	if( out == 0 )
-	{
-		DIE_MEM();
-	}
-	memcpy( out, in, sizeof( wchar_t)*(len+1));
-	return out;
-}
-
 wchar_t *halloc_wcsndup( void * context, const wchar_t *in, int c )
 {
 	wchar_t *res = (wchar_t *)halloc( context, sizeof(wchar_t)*(c+1) );
diff --git a/halloc_util.h b/halloc_util.h
index 680cffe76..109277429 100644
--- a/halloc_util.h
+++ b/halloc_util.h
@@ -51,12 +51,6 @@ void halloc_register_function_void( void *context, void (*func)() );
 */
 void *halloc_register( void *context, void *data );
 
-/**
-   Make a copy of the specified string using memory allocated using
-   halloc and the specified context
-*/
-wchar_t *halloc_wcsdup( void *context, const wchar_t *str );
-
 /**
    Make a copy of the specified substring using memory allocated using
    halloc and the specified context
diff --git a/parser.cpp b/parser.cpp
index 1263a7dde..be5103318 100644
--- a/parser.cpp
+++ b/parser.cpp
@@ -1245,7 +1245,7 @@ void parser_t::parse_job_argument_list( process_t *p,
 
 	int matched_wildcard = 0, unmatched_wildcard = 0;
 
-	wchar_t *unmatched = 0;
+	wcstring unmatched;
 	int unmatched_pos=0;
 
 	/*
@@ -1374,9 +1374,9 @@ void parser_t::parse_job_argument_list( process_t *p,
 						case EXPAND_WILDCARD_NO_MATCH:
 						{
 							unmatched_wildcard = 1;
-							if( !unmatched )
+							if( unmatched.empty() )
 							{
-								unmatched = halloc_wcsdup( j, tok_last( tok ));
+                                unmatched = tok_last(tok);
 								unmatched_pos = tok_get_pos( tok );
 							}
 
@@ -1589,7 +1589,7 @@ void parser_t::parse_job_argument_list( process_t *p,
 			{
 				int tmp;
 
-				debug( 1, WILDCARD_ERR_MSG, unmatched );
+				debug( 1, WILDCARD_ERR_MSG, unmatched.c_str() );
 				tmp = current_tokenizer_pos;
 				current_tokenizer_pos = unmatched_pos;
 
diff --git a/reader.cpp b/reader.cpp
index a085970f8..f5b256f3e 100644
--- a/reader.cpp
+++ b/reader.cpp
@@ -101,8 +101,6 @@ commence.
 #include "output.h"
 #include "signal.h"
 #include "screen.h"
-#include "halloc.h"
-#include "halloc_util.h"
 #include "iothread.h"
 #include "intern.h"
 
@@ -1338,19 +1336,15 @@ static void reader_flash()
    exact replacement, e.g. if the COMPLETE_DONT_ESCAPE flag is set.
  */
 
-int reader_can_replace( const wchar_t *in, int flags )
+static int reader_can_replace( const wcstring &in, int flags )
 {
 
-	const wchar_t * str = in;
+	const wchar_t * str = in.c_str();
 
 	if( flags & COMPLETE_DONT_ESCAPE )
 	{
 		return 1;
 	}
-	
-
-	CHECK( in, 1 );
-
 	/*
 	  Test characters that have a special meaning in any character position
 	*/
@@ -1382,20 +1376,17 @@ int reader_can_replace( const wchar_t *in, int flags )
 
 static int handle_completions( std::vector<completion_t> &comp )
 {
-	void *context = 0;
 	wchar_t *base = 0;
 	int len = 0;
 	int done = 0;
 	int count = 0;
 	int flags=0;
 	const wchar_t *begin, *end, *buff = data->command_line.c_str();
-	wchar_t *tok;
 	
 	parse_util_token_extent( buff, data->buff_pos, &begin, 0, 0, 0 );
 	end = buff+data->buff_pos;
 	
-	context = halloc( 0, 0 );
-	tok = halloc_wcsndup( context, begin, end-begin );
+    const wcstring tok(begin, end - begin);
 	
 	/*
 	  Check trivial cases
@@ -1494,7 +1485,7 @@ static int handle_completions( std::vector<completion_t> &comp )
 		if( begin )
 		{
 
-			int offset = wcslen( tok );
+			int offset = tok.size();
 			
 			count = 0;
 			
@@ -1601,11 +1592,7 @@ static int handle_completions( std::vector<completion_t> &comp )
 		s_reset( &data->screen, 1 );
 		reader_repaint();
 
-	}
-
-		
-	halloc_free( context );
-
+	}		
 	return len;