diff --git a/include/strutils.h b/include/strutils.h
index 8d8a6e46c..c7fe42a63 100644
--- a/include/strutils.h
+++ b/include/strutils.h
@@ -102,8 +102,45 @@ extern int parse_range(const char *str, int *lower, int *upper, int def);
 
 extern int streq_except_trailing_slash(const char *s1, const char *s2);
 
-extern char *startswith(const char *s, const char *prefix);
-extern char *startswith_no_case(const char *s, const char *prefix);
-extern char *endswith(const char *s, const char *postfix);
+/*
+ * Match string beginning.
+ */
+static inline const char *startswith(const char *s, const char *prefix)
+{
+	size_t sz = prefix ? strlen(prefix) : 0;
+
+        if (s && sz && strncmp(s, prefix, sz) == 0)
+                return s + sz;
+	return NULL;
+}
+
+/*
+ * Case insensitive match string beginning.
+ */
+static inline const char *startswith_no_case(const char *s, const char *prefix)
+{
+	size_t sz = prefix ? strlen(prefix) : 0;
+
+        if (s && sz && strncasecmp(s, prefix, sz) == 0)
+                return s + sz;
+	return NULL;
+}
+
+/*
+ * Match string ending.
+ */
+static inline const char *endswith(const char *s, const char *postfix)
+{
+	size_t sl = s ? strlen(s) : 0;
+	size_t pl = postfix ? strlen(postfix) : 0;
+
+	if (pl == 0)
+		return (char *)s + sl;
+	if (sl < pl)
+		return NULL;
+	if (memcmp(s + sl - pl, postfix, pl) != 0)
+		return NULL;
+	return (char *)s + sl - pl;
+}
 
 #endif
diff --git a/lib/strutils.c b/lib/strutils.c
index 95ab5a87e..69b7ba23f 100644
--- a/lib/strutils.c
+++ b/lib/strutils.c
@@ -686,72 +686,6 @@ int streq_except_trailing_slash(const char *s1, const char *s2)
 	return equal;
 }
 
-/*
- * Match string beginning.
- */
-char *startswith(const char *s, const char *prefix)
-{
-	const char *a, *b;
-
-	assert(s);
-	assert(prefix);
-
-	a = s, b = prefix;
-	for (;;) {
-		if (*b == 0)
-			return (char *)a;
-		if (*a != *b)
-			return NULL;
-
-		a++, b++;
-	}
-}
-
-/*
- * Case insensitive match string beginning.
- */
-char *startswith_no_case(const char *s, const char *prefix)
-{
-	const char *a, *b;
-
-	assert(s);
-	assert(prefix);
-
-	a = s, b = prefix;
-	for (;;) {
-		if (*b == 0)
-			return (char *)a;
-		if (tolower(*a) != tolower(*b))
-			return NULL;
-
-		a++, b++;
-	}
-}
-
-/*
- * Match string ending.
- */
-char *endswith(const char *s, const char *postfix)
-{
-	size_t sl, pl;
-
-	assert(s);
-	assert(postfix);
-
-	sl = strlen(s);
-	pl = strlen(postfix);
-
-	if (pl == 0)
-		return (char *)s + sl;
-
-	if (sl < pl)
-		return NULL;
-
-	if (memcmp(s + sl - pl, postfix, pl) != 0)
-		return NULL;
-
-	return (char *)s + sl - pl;
-}
 
 #ifdef TEST_PROGRAM