diff --git a/lib/hostip.c b/lib/hostip.c
index 0612d2f93f01aade753bcea87e77e35a3eb6dda6..f3aa36c6a0521fabb673efefc3cd30df4a23321e 100644
--- a/lib/hostip.c
+++ b/lib/hostip.c
@@ -199,30 +199,6 @@ const char *Curl_printable_address(const Curl_addrinfo *ip,
   return Curl_inet_ntop(af, af == AF_INET ? ip4 : ip6, buf, bufsize);
 }
 
-/*
- * Count the number of characters that an integer would use in a string
- * (base 10).
- */
-static int _num_chars(int i)
-{
-  int chars = 0;
-
-  /* While the number divided by 10 is greater than one,
-   * re-divide the number by 10, and increment the number of
-   * characters by 1.
-   *
-   * this relies on the fact that for every multiple of 10,
-   * a new digit is added onto every number
-   */
-  do {
-    chars++;
-
-    i = (int) i / 10;
-  } while (i >= 1);
-
-  return chars;
-}
-
 /*
  * Return a hostcache id string for the providing host + port, to be used by
  * the DNS caching.