diff --git a/path.c b/path.c
index 073f631b91..119e5f23b6 100644
--- a/path.c
+++ b/path.c
@@ -1111,6 +1111,14 @@ const char *remove_leading_path(const char *in, const char *prefix)
  * end with a '/', then the callers need to be fixed up accordingly.
  *
  */
+
+static const char *skip_slashes(const char *p)
+{
+	while (is_dir_sep(*p))
+		p++;
+	return p;
+}
+
 int normalize_path_copy_len(char *dst, const char *src, int *prefix_len)
 {
 	char *dst0;
@@ -1128,8 +1136,7 @@ int normalize_path_copy_len(char *dst, const char *src, int *prefix_len)
 	}
 	dst0 = dst;
 
-	while (is_dir_sep(*src))
-		src++;
+	src = skip_slashes(src);
 
 	for (;;) {
 		char c = *src;
@@ -1149,8 +1156,7 @@ int normalize_path_copy_len(char *dst, const char *src, int *prefix_len)
 			} else if (is_dir_sep(src[1])) {
 				/* (2) */
 				src += 2;
-				while (is_dir_sep(*src))
-					src++;
+				src = skip_slashes(src);
 				continue;
 			} else if (src[1] == '.') {
 				if (!src[2]) {
@@ -1160,8 +1166,7 @@ int normalize_path_copy_len(char *dst, const char *src, int *prefix_len)
 				} else if (is_dir_sep(src[2])) {
 					/* (4) */
 					src += 3;
-					while (is_dir_sep(*src))
-						src++;
+					src = skip_slashes(src);
 					goto up_one;
 				}
 			}
@@ -1181,6 +1186,8 @@ int normalize_path_copy_len(char *dst, const char *src, int *prefix_len)
 
 	up_one:
 		/*
+		 * strip the last component
+		 *
 		 * dst0..dst is prefix portion, and dst[-1] is '/';
 		 * go up one level.
 		 */