diff --git a/src/strings.bif b/src/strings.bif
index 90811a6a4e..ed574bbea5 100644
--- a/src/strings.bif
+++ b/src/strings.bif
@@ -1562,8 +1562,8 @@ function remove_prefix%(str: string, sub: string%) : string
 	// This could just use repeated calls to lstrip(), except for a couple of reasons:
 	// 1) lstrip() creates a StringVal at the end, and that would mean repeated recreation of objects
 	// 2) lstrip() searches for any character in the string, not the string as a whole.
-	string s = str->ToStdString();
-	string sub_s = sub->ToStdString();
+	auto s = str->ToStdStringView();
+	auto sub_s = sub->ToStdStringView();
 
 	size_t pos = s.find(sub_s);
 	if ( pos != 0 )
@@ -1584,12 +1584,15 @@ function remove_prefix%(str: string, sub: string%) : string
 function remove_suffix%(str: string, sub: string%) : string
 	%{
 	// See the note in removeprefix for why this doesn't just call rstrip.
-	string s = str->ToStdString();
-	string sub_s = sub->ToStdString();
+	auto s = str->ToStdStringView();
+	auto sub_s = sub->ToStdStringView();
 
 	size_t pos = s.rfind(sub_s);
 	size_t next_pos = s.size() - sub_s.size();
 
+	if ( pos != next_pos )
+		return zeek::IntrusivePtr<zeek::StringVal>(NewRef{}, str);
+
 	while ( pos == next_pos )
 		{
 		next_pos -= sub_s.size();
diff --git a/testing/btest/Baseline/bifs.string_utils/out b/testing/btest/Baseline/bifs.string_utils/out
index 4ff7df3070..6277a24be3 100644
--- a/testing/btest/Baseline/bifs.string_utils/out
+++ b/testing/btest/Baseline/bifs.string_utils/out
@@ -49,10 +49,12 @@ swap_case 'aBc': AbC
 to_title 'bro is a very neat ids': 'Bro Is A Very Neat Ids'
 to_title '   ': '   '
 to_title '  a   c  ': '  A   C  '
-remove_prefix 'ananab'/'an' : ab
-remove_prefix 'anatnab'/'an': atnab
+remove_prefix 'banana'/'ba' : nana
+remove_prefix 'bantana'/'ba': ntana
+remove_prefix 'bantana'/'ab': bantana
 remove_suffix 'banana'/'na' : ba
 remove_suffix 'bantana'/'na': banta
+remove_suffix 'bantana'/'an': bantana
 
 find_str/rfind_str (input string 'abcdefghi')
 -----------------------------------------------------
diff --git a/testing/btest/bifs/string_utils.zeek b/testing/btest/bifs/string_utils.zeek
index d31051555a..9178f90d70 100644
--- a/testing/btest/bifs/string_utils.zeek
+++ b/testing/btest/bifs/string_utils.zeek
@@ -60,10 +60,12 @@ event zeek_init()
 	print fmt("to_title 'bro is a very neat ids': '%s'", to_title("bro is a very neat ids"));
 	print fmt("to_title '   ': '%s'", to_title("   "));
 	print fmt("to_title '  a   c  ': '%s'", to_title("  a   c  "));
-	print fmt("remove_prefix 'ananab'/'an' : %s", remove_prefix("ananab", "an"));
-	print fmt("remove_prefix 'anatnab'/'an': %s", remove_prefix("anatnab", "an"));
+	print fmt("remove_prefix 'banana'/'ba' : %s", remove_prefix("banana", "ba"));
+	print fmt("remove_prefix 'bantana'/'ba': %s", remove_prefix("bantana", "ba"));
+	print fmt("remove_prefix 'bantana'/'ab': %s", remove_prefix("bantana", "ab"));
 	print fmt("remove_suffix 'banana'/'na' : %s", remove_suffix("banana", "na"));
 	print fmt("remove_suffix 'bantana'/'na': %s", remove_suffix("bantana", "na"));
+	print fmt("remove_suffix 'bantana'/'an': %s", remove_suffix("bantana", "an"));
 	print "";
 
 	print fmt("find_str/rfind_str (input string '%s')", s3);