diff --git a/cache.h b/cache.h
index 8a9069dc9f..d76d0896bb 100644
--- a/cache.h
+++ b/cache.h
@@ -1816,8 +1816,11 @@ extern int git_config_include(const char *name, const char *value, void *data);
  *
  * (i.e., what gets handed to a config_fn_t). The caller provides the section;
  * we return -1 if it does not match, 0 otherwise. The subsection and key
- * out-parameters are filled by the function (and subsection is NULL if it is
+ * out-parameters are filled by the function (and *subsection is NULL if it is
  * missing).
+ *
+ * If the subsection pointer-to-pointer passed in is NULL, returns 0 only if
+ * there is no subsection at all.
  */
 extern int parse_config_key(const char *var,
 			    const char *section,
diff --git a/config.c b/config.c
index 48edc6a384..0e9e1ebefc 100644
--- a/config.c
+++ b/config.c
@@ -2540,11 +2540,10 @@ int parse_config_key(const char *var,
 		     const char **subsection, int *subsection_len,
 		     const char **key)
 {
-	int section_len = strlen(section);
 	const char *dot;
 
 	/* Does it start with "section." ? */
-	if (!starts_with(var, section) || var[section_len] != '.')
+	if (!skip_prefix(var, section, &var) || *var != '.')
 		return -1;
 
 	/*
@@ -2556,12 +2555,16 @@ int parse_config_key(const char *var,
 	*key = dot + 1;
 
 	/* Did we have a subsection at all? */
-	if (dot == var + section_len) {
-		*subsection = NULL;
-		*subsection_len = 0;
+	if (dot == var) {
+		if (subsection) {
+			*subsection = NULL;
+			*subsection_len = 0;
+		}
 	}
 	else {
-		*subsection = var + section_len + 1;
+		if (!subsection)
+			return -1;
+		*subsection = var + 1;
 		*subsection_len = dot - *subsection;
 	}
 
diff --git a/refs.c b/refs.c
index cd36b64ed9..b9188908b2 100644
--- a/refs.c
+++ b/refs.c
@@ -1034,10 +1034,10 @@ static struct string_list *hide_refs;
 
 int parse_hide_refs_config(const char *var, const char *value, const char *section)
 {
+	const char *key;
 	if (!strcmp("transfer.hiderefs", var) ||
-	    /* NEEDSWORK: use parse_config_key() once both are merged */
-	    (starts_with(var, section) && var[strlen(section)] == '.' &&
-	     !strcmp(var + strlen(section), ".hiderefs"))) {
+	    (!parse_config_key(var, section, NULL, NULL, &key) &&
+	     !strcmp(key, "hiderefs"))) {
 		char *ref;
 		int len;