diff --git a/git-add--interactive.perl b/git-add--interactive.perl
index 0e8543c865..28b325d754 100755
--- a/git-add--interactive.perl
+++ b/git-add--interactive.perl
@@ -3,7 +3,7 @@
 use 5.008;
 use strict;
 use warnings;
-use Git;
+use Git qw(unquote_path);
 use Git::I18N;
 
 binmode(STDOUT, ":raw");
@@ -174,47 +174,6 @@ if (!defined $GIT_DIR) {
 }
 chomp($GIT_DIR);
 
-my %cquote_map = (
- "b" => chr(8),
- "t" => chr(9),
- "n" => chr(10),
- "v" => chr(11),
- "f" => chr(12),
- "r" => chr(13),
- "\\" => "\\",
- "\042" => "\042",
-);
-
-sub unquote_path {
-	local ($_) = @_;
-	my ($retval, $remainder);
-	if (!/^\042(.*)\042$/) {
-		return $_;
-	}
-	($_, $retval) = ($1, "");
-	while (/^([^\\]*)\\(.*)$/) {
-		$remainder = $2;
-		$retval .= $1;
-		for ($remainder) {
-			if (/^([0-3][0-7][0-7])(.*)$/) {
-				$retval .= chr(oct($1));
-				$_ = $2;
-				last;
-			}
-			if (/^([\\\042btnvfr])(.*)$/) {
-				$retval .= $cquote_map{$1};
-				$_ = $2;
-				last;
-			}
-			# This is malformed -- just return it as-is for now.
-			return $_[0];
-		}
-		$_ = $remainder;
-	}
-	$retval .= $_;
-	return $retval;
-}
-
 sub refresh {
 	my $fh;
 	open $fh, 'git update-index --refresh |'
diff --git a/perl/Git.pm b/perl/Git.pm
index bfce1f795d..f4b56e6d4d 100644
--- a/perl/Git.pm
+++ b/perl/Git.pm
@@ -61,7 +61,8 @@ require Exporter;
                 remote_refs prompt
                 get_tz_offset get_record
                 credential credential_read credential_write
-                temp_acquire temp_is_locked temp_release temp_reset temp_path);
+                temp_acquire temp_is_locked temp_release temp_reset temp_path
+                unquote_path);
 
 
 =head1 DESCRIPTION
@@ -1451,6 +1452,57 @@ sub prefix_lines {
 	return $string;
 }
 
+=item unquote_path ( PATH )
+
+Unquote a quoted path containing c-escapes as returned by ls-files etc.
+when not using -z or when parsing the output of diff -u.
+
+=cut
+
+{
+	my %cquote_map = (
+		"a" => chr(7),
+		"b" => chr(8),
+		"t" => chr(9),
+		"n" => chr(10),
+		"v" => chr(11),
+		"f" => chr(12),
+		"r" => chr(13),
+		"\\" => "\\",
+		"\042" => "\042",
+	);
+
+	sub unquote_path {
+		local ($_) = @_;
+		my ($retval, $remainder);
+		if (!/^\042(.*)\042$/) {
+			return $_;
+		}
+		($_, $retval) = ($1, "");
+		while (/^([^\\]*)\\(.*)$/) {
+			$remainder = $2;
+			$retval .= $1;
+			for ($remainder) {
+				if (/^([0-3][0-7][0-7])(.*)$/) {
+					$retval .= chr(oct($1));
+					$_ = $2;
+					last;
+				}
+				if (/^([\\\042abtnvfr])(.*)$/) {
+					$retval .= $cquote_map{$1};
+					$_ = $2;
+					last;
+				}
+				# This is malformed
+				throw Error::Simple("invalid quoted path $_[0]");
+			}
+			$_ = $remainder;
+		}
+		$retval .= $_;
+		return $retval;
+	}
+}
+
 =item get_comment_line_char ( )
 
 Gets the core.commentchar configuration value.
diff --git a/t/t9700/test.pl b/t/t9700/test.pl
index 1b75c91965..34cd01366f 100755
--- a/t/t9700/test.pl
+++ b/t/t9700/test.pl
@@ -133,6 +133,13 @@ close TEMPFILE3;
 unlink $tmpfile3;
 chdir($abs_repo_dir);
 
+# unquoting paths
+is(Git::unquote_path('abc'), 'abc', 'unquote unquoted path');
+is(Git::unquote_path('"abc def"'), 'abc def', 'unquote simple quoted path');
+is(Git::unquote_path('"abc\"\\\\ \a\b\t\n\v\f\r\001\040"'),
+		     "abc\"\\ \x07\x08\x09\x0a\x0b\x0c\x0d\x01 ",
+		     'unquote escape sequences');
+
 printf "1..%d\n", Test::More->builder->current_test;
 
 my $is_passing = eval { Test::More->is_passing };