--- a/src/utils/smallut.h
+++ b/src/utils/smallut.h
@@ -80,7 +80,8 @@
/** Replace some chars with spaces (ie: newline chars). This is not utf8-aware
* so chars should only contain ascii */
-extern string neutchars(const string &str, string chars);
+extern string neutchars(const string &str, const string &chars);
+extern void neutchars(const string &str, string& out, const string &chars);
/** turn string into something that won't be expanded by a shell. In practise
* quote with single-quotes and escape internal singlequotes */