lib/PublicInbox/Git.pm | 11 +++++------
 t/git.t                |  4 ++++

diff --git a/lib/PublicInbox/Git.pm b/lib/PublicInbox/Git.pm
index 8d3f87d577565ea2f07123d890cde23a043185a5..4601f2599ac674ae96d6bcb7ce2d7681f3b587f2 100644
--- a/lib/PublicInbox/Git.pm
+++ b/lib/PublicInbox/Git.pm
@@ -27,12 +27,11 @@ );
 
 # unquote pathnames used by git, see quote.c::unquote_c_style.c in git.git
 sub git_unquote ($) {
-	my ($s) = @_;
-	return $s unless ($s =~ /\A"(.*)"\z/);
-	$s = $1;
-	$s =~ s/\\([abfnrtv])/$GIT_ESC{$1}/g;
-	$s =~ s/\\([0-7]{1,3})/chr(oct($1))/ge;
-	$s;
+	return $_[0] unless ($_[0] =~ /\A"(.*)"\z/);
+	$_[0] = $1;
+	$_[0] =~ s/\\([abfnrtv])/$GIT_ESC{$1}/g;
+	$_[0] =~ s/\\([0-7]{1,3})/chr(oct($1))/ge;
+	$_[0];
 }
 
 sub new {
diff --git a/t/git.t b/t/git.t
index 6538b6ca2644d3875f9fc0f36fe326fc55675f50..50ec4fbfc582d518986ad54f112ebca8f04a9451 100644
--- a/t/git.t
+++ b/t/git.t
@@ -144,4 +144,8 @@ 	my $config = eval { local $/; <$fh> };
 	is($$found, $config, 'alternates reloaded');
 }
 
+use_ok 'PublicInbox::Git', qw(git_unquote);
+is("foo\nbar", git_unquote('"foo\\nbar"'.''), 'unquoted newline');
+is("Eléanor", git_unquote('"El\\303\\251anor"'.''), 'unquoted octal');
+
 done_testing();