diff --git a/lib/mprintf.c b/lib/mprintf.c
index af2104170..6cb345a58 100644
--- a/lib/mprintf.c
+++ b/lib/mprintf.c
@@ -961,41 +961,38 @@ static int addbyter(int output, FILE *data)
   return -1;
 }
 
+int curl_mvsnprintf(char *buffer, size_t maxlength, const char *format,
+                    va_list ap_save)
+{
+  int retcode;
+  struct nsprintf info;
+
+  info.buffer = buffer;
+  info.length = 0;
+  info.max = maxlength;
+
+  retcode = dprintf_formatf(&info, addbyter, format, ap_save);
+  if(info.max) {
+    /* we terminate this with a zero byte */
+    if(info.max == info.length)
+      /* we're at maximum, scrap the last letter */
+      info.buffer[-1] = 0;
+    else
+      info.buffer[0] = 0;
+  }
+  return retcode;
+}
+
 int curl_msnprintf(char *buffer, size_t maxlength, const char *format, ...)
 {
+  int retcode;
   va_list ap_save; /* argument pointer */
-  int retcode;
-  struct nsprintf info;
-
-  info.buffer = buffer;
-  info.length = 0;
-  info.max = maxlength;
-
   va_start(ap_save, format);
-  retcode = dprintf_formatf(&info, addbyter, format, ap_save);
+  retcode = curl_mvsnprintf(buffer, maxlength, format, ap_save);
   va_end(ap_save);
-  info.buffer[0] = 0; /* we terminate this with a zero byte */
-
-  /* we could even return things like */
-  
   return retcode;
 }
 
-int curl_mvsnprintf(char *buffer, size_t maxlength, const char *format, va_list ap_save)
-{
-  int retcode;
-  struct nsprintf info;
-
-  info.buffer = buffer;
-  info.length = 0;
-  info.max = maxlength;
-
-  retcode = dprintf_formatf(&info, addbyter, format, ap_save);
-  info.buffer[0] = 0; /* we terminate this with a zero byte */
-  return retcode;
-}
-
-
 /* fputc() look-alike */
 static int alloc_addbyter(int output, FILE *data)
 {