diff --git a/Common/GPU/OpenGL/GLFeatures.cpp b/Common/GPU/OpenGL/GLFeatures.cpp
index 32e1aba67d..5a603aabe0 100644
--- a/Common/GPU/OpenGL/GLFeatures.cpp
+++ b/Common/GPU/OpenGL/GLFeatures.cpp
@@ -162,7 +162,7 @@ bool CheckGLExtensions() {
 	const char *cvendor = (char *)glGetString(GL_VENDOR);
 	// TODO: move this stuff to gpu_features.cpp
 	if (cvendor) {
-		const std::string vendor = StripSpaces(std::string(cvendor));
+		const std::string vendor(StripSpaces(cvendor));
 		if (vendor == "NVIDIA Corporation"
 			|| vendor == "Nouveau"
 			|| vendor == "nouveau") {
diff --git a/Common/Net/HTTPClient.cpp b/Common/Net/HTTPClient.cpp
index 1e54544626..e17565f2c0 100644
--- a/Common/Net/HTTPClient.cpp
+++ b/Common/Net/HTTPClient.cpp
@@ -226,8 +226,10 @@ Client::~Client() {
 
 // Ignores line folding (deprecated), but respects field combining.
 // Don't use for Set-Cookie, which is a special header per RFC 7230.
-bool GetHeaderValue(const std::vector<std::string> &responseHeaders, const std::string &header, std::string *value) {
-	std::string search = header + ":";
+bool GetHeaderValue(const std::vector<std::string> &responseHeaders, std::string_view header, std::string *value) {
+	std::string search(header);
+	search.push_back(':');
+
 	bool found = false;
 
 	value->clear();
@@ -242,7 +244,7 @@ bool GetHeaderValue(const std::vector<std::string> &responseHeaders, const std::
 			if (!found)
 				*value = stripped.substr(value_pos);
 			else
-				*value += "," + stripped.substr(value_pos);
+				*value += "," + std::string(stripped.substr(value_pos));
 			found = true;
 		}
 	}
diff --git a/Common/Net/HTTPClient.h b/Common/Net/HTTPClient.h
index bd21c9b0fe..c8a147db56 100644
--- a/Common/Net/HTTPClient.h
+++ b/Common/Net/HTTPClient.h
@@ -47,7 +47,7 @@ private:
 
 namespace http {
 
-bool GetHeaderValue(const std::vector<std::string> &responseHeaders, const std::string &header, std::string *value);
+bool GetHeaderValue(const std::vector<std::string> &responseHeaders, std::string_view header, std::string *value);
 
 class RequestParams {
 public:
diff --git a/Common/StringUtils.cpp b/Common/StringUtils.cpp
index 6efd728ba1..fea681cf05 100644
--- a/Common/StringUtils.cpp
+++ b/Common/StringUtils.cpp
@@ -361,27 +361,7 @@ std::string StringFromInt(int value) {
 	return temp;
 }
 
-// Turns "  hej " into "hej". Also handles tabs.
-std::string StripSpaces(const std::string &str) {
-	const size_t s = str.find_first_not_of(" \t\r\n");
-	if (std::string::npos != s)
-		return str.substr(s, str.find_last_not_of(" \t\r\n") - s + 1);
-	else
-		return "";
-}
-
-// "\"hello\"" is turned to "hello"
-// This one assumes that the string has already been space stripped in both
-// ends, as done by StripSpaces above, for example.
-std::string StripQuotes(const std::string& s)
-{
-	if (s.size() && '\"' == s[0] && '\"' == *s.rbegin())
-		return s.substr(1, s.size() - 2);
-	else
-		return s;
-}
-
-// Turns "  hej " into "hej". Also handles tabs.
+// Turns "  hej " into "hej". Also handles tabs and line breaks.
 std::string_view StripSpaces(std::string_view str) {
 	const size_t s = str.find_first_not_of(" \t\r\n");
 	if (std::string::npos != s)
diff --git a/Common/StringUtils.h b/Common/StringUtils.h
index 92cad2bef9..8e87d66387 100644
--- a/Common/StringUtils.h
+++ b/Common/StringUtils.h
@@ -95,9 +95,6 @@ void DataToHexString(int indent, uint32_t startAddr, const uint8_t* data, size_t
 std::string StringFromFormat(const char* format, ...);
 std::string StringFromInt(int value);
 
-std::string StripSpaces(const std::string &s);
-std::string StripQuotes(const std::string &s);
-
 std::string_view KeepAfterLast(std::string_view s, char c);
 std::string_view KeepIncludingLast(std::string_view s, char c);
 
diff --git a/Core/HLE/sceNet.cpp b/Core/HLE/sceNet.cpp
index c1e81556eb..4ad3332a27 100644
--- a/Core/HLE/sceNet.cpp
+++ b/Core/HLE/sceNet.cpp
@@ -521,7 +521,7 @@ void InitLocalhostIP() {
 	g_localhostIP.in.sin_addr.s_addr = htonl(localIP);
 	g_localhostIP.in.sin_port = 0;
 
-	std::string serverStr = StripSpaces(g_Config.proAdhocServer);
+	std::string serverStr(StripSpaces(g_Config.proAdhocServer));
 	isLocalServer = (!strcasecmp(serverStr.c_str(), "localhost") || serverStr.find("127.") == 0);
 }
 
diff --git a/UI/DevScreens.cpp b/UI/DevScreens.cpp
index a4b2782b2e..c6b296aee5 100644
--- a/UI/DevScreens.cpp
+++ b/UI/DevScreens.cpp
@@ -1222,7 +1222,7 @@ void FrameDumpTestScreen::update() {
 			// We rely slightly on nginx listing format here. Not great.
 			SplitString(listingHtml, '\n', lines);
 			for (auto &line : lines) {
-				std::string trimmed = StripSpaces(line);
+				std::string trimmed(StripSpaces(line));
 				if (startsWith(trimmed, "<a href=\"")) {
 					trimmed = trimmed.substr(strlen("<a href=\""));
 					size_t offset = trimmed.find('\"');
diff --git a/UI/TabbedDialogScreen.cpp b/UI/TabbedDialogScreen.cpp
index c4b3dd81dd..a68b2ab13b 100644
--- a/UI/TabbedDialogScreen.cpp
+++ b/UI/TabbedDialogScreen.cpp
@@ -82,7 +82,7 @@ void TabbedUIDialogScreenWithGameBackground::CreateViews() {
 
 				searchSettings->Add(new ItemHeader(se->T("Find settings")));
 				searchSettings->Add(new PopupTextInputChoice(GetRequesterToken(), &searchFilter_, se->T("Filter"), "", 64, screenManager()))->OnChange.Add([=](UI::EventParams &e) {
-					System_PostUIMessage(UIMessage::GAMESETTINGS_SEARCH, StripSpaces(searchFilter_));
+					System_PostUIMessage(UIMessage::GAMESETTINGS_SEARCH, std::string(StripSpaces(searchFilter_)));
 					return UI::EVENT_DONE;
 				});