diff --git a/Documentation/technical/api-strbuf.txt b/Documentation/technical/api-strbuf.txt
index 3350d97dda..1d83362116 100644
--- a/Documentation/technical/api-strbuf.txt
+++ b/Documentation/technical/api-strbuf.txt
@@ -142,6 +142,10 @@ then they will free() it.
 
 	Add a single character to the buffer.
 
+`strbuf_addchars`::
+
+	Add a character the specified number of times to the buffer.
+
 `strbuf_insert`::
 
 	Insert data to the given position of the buffer. The remaining contents
diff --git a/strbuf.c b/strbuf.c
index 1170d01c43..5e44cf9204 100644
--- a/strbuf.c
+++ b/strbuf.c
@@ -196,6 +196,13 @@ void strbuf_adddup(struct strbuf *sb, size_t pos, size_t len)
 	strbuf_setlen(sb, sb->len + len);
 }
 
+void strbuf_addchars(struct strbuf *sb, int c, size_t n)
+{
+	strbuf_grow(sb, n);
+	memset(sb->buf + sb->len, c, n);
+	strbuf_setlen(sb, sb->len + n);
+}
+
 void strbuf_addf(struct strbuf *sb, const char *fmt, ...)
 {
 	va_list ap;
diff --git a/strbuf.h b/strbuf.h
index 73e80cea69..2c34753a68 100644
--- a/strbuf.h
+++ b/strbuf.h
@@ -121,6 +121,7 @@ static inline void strbuf_addbuf(struct strbuf *sb, const struct strbuf *sb2) {
 	strbuf_add(sb, sb2->buf, sb2->len);
 }
 extern void strbuf_adddup(struct strbuf *sb, size_t pos, size_t len);
+extern void strbuf_addchars(struct strbuf *sb, int c, size_t n);
 
 typedef size_t (*expand_fn_t) (struct strbuf *sb, const char *placeholder, void *context);
 extern void strbuf_expand(struct strbuf *sb, const char *format, expand_fn_t fn, void *context);
diff --git a/utf8.c b/utf8.c
index 0d20e0acb2..c55f3ba0bc 100644
--- a/utf8.c
+++ b/utf8.c
@@ -302,13 +302,6 @@ int is_utf8(const char *text)
 	return 1;
 }
 
-static void strbuf_addchars(struct strbuf *sb, int c, size_t n)
-{
-	strbuf_grow(sb, n);
-	memset(sb->buf + sb->len, c, n);
-	strbuf_setlen(sb, sb->len + n);
-}
-
 static void strbuf_add_indented_text(struct strbuf *buf, const char *text,
 				     int indent, int indent2)
 {