diff --git a/scripts/base/frameworks/signatures/main.bro b/scripts/base/frameworks/signatures/main.bro
index 4102214075..7e2f71ea8c 100644
--- a/scripts/base/frameworks/signatures/main.bro
+++ b/scripts/base/frameworks/signatures/main.bro
@@ -161,7 +161,7 @@ event signature_match(state: signature_state, msg: string, data: string)
 		return;
 
 	# Trim the matched data down to something reasonable
-	if ( byte_len(data) > 140 )
+	if ( |data| > 140 )
 		data = fmt("%s...", sub_bytes(data, 0, 140));
 		
 	local src_addr: addr;
@@ -259,8 +259,8 @@ event signature_match(state: signature_state, msg: string, data: string)
 
 	add vert_table[orig, resp][sig_id];
 
-	local hcount = length(horiz_table[orig, sig_id]);
-	local vcount = length(vert_table[orig, resp]);
+	local hcount = |horiz_table[orig, sig_id]|;
+	local vcount = |vert_table[orig, resp]|;
 
 	if ( hcount in horiz_scan_thresholds && hcount != last_hthresh[orig] )
 		{
diff --git a/scripts/base/utils/paths.bro b/scripts/base/utils/paths.bro
index 92f0745be4..aa083ddf5b 100644
--- a/scripts/base/utils/paths.bro
+++ b/scripts/base/utils/paths.bro
@@ -27,7 +27,7 @@ function compress_path(dir: string): string
 	const cdup_sep = /((\/)*([^\/]|\\\/)+)?((\/)+\.\.(\/)*)/;
 
 	local parts = split_n(dir, cdup_sep, T, 1);
-	if ( length(parts) > 1 )
+	if ( |parts| > 1 )
 		{
 		# reaching a point with two parent dir references back-to-back means
 		# we don't know about anything higher in the tree to pop off
diff --git a/scripts/base/utils/strings.bro b/scripts/base/utils/strings.bro
index 2836f368b4..560ba6d160 100644
--- a/scripts/base/utils/strings.bro
+++ b/scripts/base/utils/strings.bro
@@ -6,7 +6,7 @@
 ## characters.
 function is_string_binary(s: string): bool
 	{
-	return byte_len(gsub(s, /[\x00-\x7f]/, "")) * 100 / |s| >= 25;
+	return |gsub(s, /[\x00-\x7f]/, "")| * 100 / |s| >= 25;
 	}
 
 ## Joins a set of string together, with elements delimited by a constant string.
diff --git a/scripts/policy/protocols/http/detect-MHR.bro b/scripts/policy/protocols/http/detect-MHR.bro
index 1898022978..0594276c93 100644
--- a/scripts/policy/protocols/http/detect-MHR.bro
+++ b/scripts/policy/protocols/http/detect-MHR.bro
@@ -32,7 +32,7 @@ event log_http(rec: HTTP::Info)
 			{
 			# Data is returned as "<dateFirstDetected> <detectionRate>"
 			local MHR_answer = split1(MHR_result, / /);
-			if ( length(MHR_answer) == 2 && to_count(MHR_answer[2]) >= MHR_threshold )
+			if ( |MHR_answer| == 2 && to_count(MHR_answer[2]) >= MHR_threshold )
 				{
 				local url = HTTP::build_url_http(rec);
 				local message = fmt("%s %s %s", rec$id$orig_h, rec$md5, url);
diff --git a/src/bro.bif b/src/bro.bif
index 8cea9d9123..15c2e8da3f 100644
--- a/src/bro.bif
+++ b/src/bro.bif
@@ -1033,29 +1033,6 @@ function clear_table%(v: any%): any
 	return 0;
 	%}
 
-## Returns the number of elements in a container. This function works with all
-## container types, i.e., sets, tables, and vectors.
-##
-## v: The container whose elements are counted.
-##
-## Returns: The number of elements in *v*.
-function length%(v: any%): count
-	%{
-	TableVal* tv = v->Type()->Tag() == TYPE_TABLE ? v->AsTableVal() : 0;
-
-	if ( tv )
-		return new Val(tv->Size(), TYPE_COUNT);
-
-	else if ( v->Type()->Tag() == TYPE_VECTOR )
-		return new Val(v->AsVectorVal()->Size(), TYPE_COUNT);
-
-	else
-		{
-		builtin_error("length() requires a table/set/vector argument");
-		return new Val(0, TYPE_COUNT);
-		}
-	%}
-
 ## Checks whether two objects reference the same internal object. This function
 ## uses equality comparison of C++ raw pointer values to determine if the two
 ## objects are the same.
diff --git a/src/strings.bif b/src/strings.bif
index dc5e064dc6..22f5429a8b 100644
--- a/src/strings.bif
+++ b/src/strings.bif
@@ -265,19 +265,6 @@ function edit%(arg_s: string, arg_edit_char: string%): string
 	return new StringVal(new BroString(1, byte_vec(new_s), ind));
 	%}
 
-## Returns the number of characters (bytes) in the given string. The
-## length computation includes any embedded NULs, and also a trailing NUL,
-## if any (which is why the function isn't called ``strlen``; to remind
-## the user that Bro strings can include NULs).
-##
-## s: The string to compute the length for.
-##
-## Returns: The number of characters in *s*.
-function byte_len%(s: string%): count
-	%{
-	return new Val(s->Len(), TYPE_COUNT);
-	%}
-
 ## Get a substring from a string, given a starting position and length.
 ##
 ## s: The string to obtain a substring from.
diff --git a/testing/btest/bifs/byte_len.bro b/testing/btest/bifs/byte_len.bro
deleted file mode 100644
index bd15b0c390..0000000000
--- a/testing/btest/bifs/byte_len.bro
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,10 +0,0 @@
-#
-# @TEST-EXEC: bro -b %INPUT >out
-# @TEST-EXEC: btest-diff out
-
-event bro_init()
-	{
-	local a = "hello\0there";
-
-	print byte_len(a);
-	}
diff --git a/testing/btest/bifs/length.bro b/testing/btest/bifs/length.bro
deleted file mode 100644
index ca82d7eab7..0000000000
--- a/testing/btest/bifs/length.bro
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,22 +0,0 @@
-#
-# @TEST-EXEC: bro -b %INPUT > out
-# @TEST-EXEC: btest-diff out
-
-event bro_init()
-	{
-	local mytable: table[string] of string = { ["key1"] = "val1" };
-	local myset: set[count] = set( 3, 6, 2, 7 );
-	local myvec: vector of string = vector( "value1", "value2" );
-
-	print length(mytable);
-	print length(myset);
-	print length(myvec);
-
-	mytable = table();
-	myset = set();
-	myvec = vector();
-
-	print length(mytable);
-	print length(myset);
-	print length(myvec);
-	}