diff --git a/src/shared/proparser/proitems.cpp b/src/shared/proparser/proitems.cpp
index ebf448516a7..5ea3405fd32 100644
--- a/src/shared/proparser/proitems.cpp
+++ b/src/shared/proparser/proitems.cpp
@@ -379,6 +379,20 @@ void ProStringList::removeAll(const char *str)
             remove(i);
 }
 
+void ProStringList::removeEach(const ProStringList &value)
+{
+    foreach (const ProString &str, value)
+        if (!str.isEmpty())
+            removeAll(str);
+}
+
+void ProStringList::removeEmpty()
+{
+    for (int i = size(); --i >= 0;)
+        if (at(i).isEmpty())
+            remove(i);
+}
+
 void ProStringList::removeDuplicates()
 {
     int n = size();
@@ -398,6 +412,13 @@ void ProStringList::removeDuplicates()
         erase(begin() + j, end());
 }
 
+void ProStringList::insertUnique(const ProStringList &value)
+{
+    foreach (const ProString &str, value)
+        if (!str.isEmpty() && !contains(str))
+            append(str);
+}
+
 ProStringList::ProStringList(const QStringList &list)
 {
     reserve(list.size());
diff --git a/src/shared/proparser/proitems.h b/src/shared/proparser/proitems.h
index f1ef1dd8e34..c18f976b229 100644
--- a/src/shared/proparser/proitems.h
+++ b/src/shared/proparser/proitems.h
@@ -236,9 +236,13 @@ public:
     QString join(const QString &sep) const;
     QString join(QChar sep) const;
 
+    void insertUnique(const ProStringList &value);
+
     void removeAll(const ProString &str);
     void removeAll(const char *str);
+    void removeEach(const ProStringList &value);
     void removeAt(int idx) { remove(idx); }
+    void removeEmpty();
     void removeDuplicates();
 
     bool contains(const ProString &str, Qt::CaseSensitivity cs = Qt::CaseSensitive) const;
diff --git a/src/shared/proparser/qmakebuiltins.cpp b/src/shared/proparser/qmakebuiltins.cpp
index 86263b51b78..5d048e96717 100644
--- a/src/shared/proparser/qmakebuiltins.cpp
+++ b/src/shared/proparser/qmakebuiltins.cpp
@@ -1688,7 +1688,7 @@ QMakeEvaluator::VisitReturn QMakeEvaluator::evaluateBuiltinConditional(
                         if (mode == CacheAdd)
                             newval += diffval;
                         else
-                            removeEach(&newval, diffval);
+                            newval.removeEach(diffval);
                     }
                     if (oldval != newval) {
                         if (target != TargetStash || !m_stashfile.isEmpty()) {
diff --git a/src/shared/proparser/qmakeevaluator.cpp b/src/shared/proparser/qmakeevaluator.cpp
index 7cb0e49619b..20bdd310ac4 100644
--- a/src/shared/proparser/qmakeevaluator.cpp
+++ b/src/shared/proparser/qmakeevaluator.cpp
@@ -347,34 +347,6 @@ ProStringList QMakeEvaluator::split_value_list(const QString &vals, const ProFil
     return ret;
 }
 
-static void zipEmpty(ProStringList *value)
-{
-    for (int i = value->size(); --i >= 0;)
-        if (value->at(i).isEmpty())
-            value->remove(i);
-}
-
-static void insertUnique(ProStringList *varlist, const ProStringList &value)
-{
-    foreach (const ProString &str, value)
-        if (!str.isEmpty() && !varlist->contains(str))
-            varlist->append(str);
-}
-
-static void removeAll(ProStringList *varlist, const ProString &value)
-{
-    for (int i = varlist->size(); --i >= 0; )
-        if (varlist->at(i) == value)
-            varlist->remove(i);
-}
-
-void QMakeEvaluator::removeEach(ProStringList *varlist, const ProStringList &value)
-{
-    foreach (const ProString &str, value)
-        if (!str.isEmpty())
-            removeAll(varlist, str);
-}
-
 static void replaceInList(ProStringList *varlist,
         const QRegExp &regexp, const QString &replace, bool global, QString &tmp)
 {
@@ -918,24 +890,24 @@ void QMakeEvaluator::visitProVariable(
         switch (tok) {
         default: // whatever - cannot happen
         case TokAssign:          // =
-            zipEmpty(&varVal);
+            varVal.removeEmpty();
             // FIXME: add check+warning about accidental value removal.
             // This may be a bit too noisy, though.
             m_valuemapStack.top()[varName] = varVal;
             debugMsg(2, "assigning");
             break;
         case TokAppendUnique:    // *=
-            insertUnique(&valuesRef(varName), varVal);
+            valuesRef(varName).insertUnique(varVal);
             debugMsg(2, "appending unique");
             break;
         case TokAppend:          // +=
-            zipEmpty(&varVal);
+            varVal.removeEmpty();
             valuesRef(varName) += varVal;
             debugMsg(2, "appending");
             break;
         case TokRemove:       // -=
             if (!m_cumulative) {
-                removeEach(&valuesRef(varName), varVal);
+                valuesRef(varName).removeEach(varVal);
             } else {
                 // We are stingy with our values.
             }
diff --git a/src/shared/proparser/qmakeevaluator.h b/src/shared/proparser/qmakeevaluator.h
index 5ed1458f87d..002204b8cf3 100644
--- a/src/shared/proparser/qmakeevaluator.h
+++ b/src/shared/proparser/qmakeevaluator.h
@@ -240,8 +240,6 @@ public:
 #endif
     QByteArray getCommandOutput(const QString &args) const;
 
-    static void removeEach(ProStringList *varlist, const ProStringList &value);
-
     QMakeEvaluator *m_caller;
 #ifdef PROEVALUATOR_CUMULATIVE
     bool m_cumulative;