diff --git a/src/util.cc b/src/util.cc
index db91af4f54..d566c588a9 100644
--- a/src/util.cc
+++ b/src/util.cc
@@ -837,8 +837,7 @@ bool ensure_intermediate_dirs(const char* dirname)
 	bool absolute = dirname[0] == '/';
 	string path = normalize_path(dirname);
 
-	vector<string> path_components;
-	tokenize_string(path, "/", &path_components);
+	const auto path_components = tokenize_string(path, '/');
 
 	string current_dir;
 
@@ -1525,6 +1524,25 @@ vector<string>* tokenize_string(const std::string_view input, const std::string_
 	return rval;
 	}
 
+vector<std::string_view> tokenize_string(const std::string_view input, const char delim) noexcept
+	{
+	vector<std::string_view> rval;
+
+	size_t pos = 0;
+	size_t n;
+	auto found = 0;
+
+	while ( (n = input.find(delim, pos)) != string::npos )
+		{
+		++found;
+		rval.push_back(input.substr(pos, n - pos));
+		pos = n + 1;
+		}
+
+	rval.push_back(input.substr(pos));
+	return rval;
+	}
+
 TEST_CASE("util normalize_path")
 	{
 	CHECK(normalize_path("/1/2/3") == "/1/2/3");
@@ -1555,7 +1573,6 @@ TEST_CASE("util normalize_path")
 string normalize_path(const std::string_view path)
 	{
 	size_t n;
-	vector<string> components;
 	vector<std::string_view> final_components;
 	string new_path;
 	new_path.reserve(path.size());
@@ -1563,7 +1580,7 @@ string normalize_path(const std::string_view path)
 	if ( !path.empty() && path[0] == '/' )
 		new_path = "/";
 
-	tokenize_string(path, "/", &components);
+	const auto components = tokenize_string(path, '/');
 	final_components.reserve(components.size());
 
 	for ( auto it = components.begin(); it != components.end(); ++it )
@@ -1616,8 +1633,7 @@ string without_bropath_component(const string& path)
 	{
 	string rval = normalize_path(path);
 
-	vector<string> paths;
-	tokenize_string(bro_path(), ":", &paths);
+	const auto paths = tokenize_string(bro_path(), ':');
 
 	for ( size_t i = 0; i < paths.size(); ++i )
 		{
diff --git a/src/util.h b/src/util.h
index b2b346f727..bd2447c23f 100644
--- a/src/util.h
+++ b/src/util.h
@@ -150,6 +150,8 @@ std::vector<std::string>* tokenize_string(std::string_view input,
 					  std::string_view delim,
 					  std::vector<std::string>* rval = 0, int limit = 0);
 
+std::vector<std::string_view> tokenize_string(const std::string_view input, const char delim) noexcept;
+
 extern char* copy_string(const char* s);
 extern int streq(const char* s1, const char* s2);