diff --git a/diff.c b/diff.c
index 9f9a92ec9d..1054a4b732 100644
--- a/diff.c
+++ b/diff.c
@@ -5772,6 +5772,13 @@ void diff_free_filepair(struct diff_filepair *p)
 	free(p);
 }
 
+void diff_free_queue(struct diff_queue_struct *q)
+{
+	for (int i = 0; i < q->nr; i++)
+		diff_free_filepair(q->queue[i]);
+	free(q->queue);
+}
+
 const char *diff_aligned_abbrev(const struct object_id *oid, int len)
 {
 	int abblen;
@@ -6329,13 +6336,9 @@ static int diff_get_patch_id(struct diff_options *options, struct object_id *oid
 int diff_flush_patch_id(struct diff_options *options, struct object_id *oid, int diff_header_only)
 {
 	struct diff_queue_struct *q = &diff_queued_diff;
-	int i;
 	int result = diff_get_patch_id(options, oid, diff_header_only);
 
-	for (i = 0; i < q->nr; i++)
-		diff_free_filepair(q->queue[i]);
-
-	free(q->queue);
+	diff_free_queue(q);
 	DIFF_QUEUE_CLEAR(q);
 
 	return result;
@@ -6604,10 +6607,8 @@ void diff_flush(struct diff_options *options)
 	if (output_format & DIFF_FORMAT_CALLBACK)
 		options->format_callback(q, options, options->format_callback_data);
 
-	for (i = 0; i < q->nr; i++)
-		diff_free_filepair(q->queue[i]);
 free_queue:
-	free(q->queue);
+	diff_free_queue(q);
 	DIFF_QUEUE_CLEAR(q);
 	diff_free(options);
 
diff --git a/diffcore.h b/diffcore.h
index badc2261c2..9b588a1ee1 100644
--- a/diffcore.h
+++ b/diffcore.h
@@ -162,6 +162,7 @@ struct diff_filepair *diff_queue(struct diff_queue_struct *,
 				 struct diff_filespec *,
 				 struct diff_filespec *);
 void diff_q(struct diff_queue_struct *, struct diff_filepair *);
+void diff_free_queue(struct diff_queue_struct *q);
 
 /* dir_rename_relevance: the reason we want rename information for a dir */
 enum dir_rename_relevance {
diff --git a/line-log.c b/line-log.c
index 51d93310a4..a7f3e7f6ce 100644
--- a/line-log.c
+++ b/line-log.c
@@ -1089,10 +1089,8 @@ static struct diff_filepair *diff_filepair_dup(struct diff_filepair *pair)
 
 static void free_diffqueues(int n, struct diff_queue_struct *dq)
 {
-	int i, j;
-	for (i = 0; i < n; i++)
-		for (j = 0; j < dq[i].nr; j++)
-			diff_free_filepair(dq[i].queue[j]);
+	for (int i = 0; i < n; i++)
+		diff_free_queue(&dq[i]);
 	free(dq);
 }
 
@@ -1195,6 +1193,7 @@ static int process_ranges_ordinary_commit(struct rev_info *rev, struct commit *c
 	if (parent)
 		add_line_range(rev, parent, parent_range);
 	free_line_log_data(parent_range);
+	diff_free_queue(&queue);
 	return changed;
 }