diff --git a/src/backtrace.cc b/src/backtrace.cc
index 677702c8..2fc99e8e 100644
--- a/src/backtrace.cc
+++ b/src/backtrace.cc
@@ -32,7 +32,7 @@ String Backtrace::desc() const
     char** symbols = backtrace_symbols(stackframes, num_frames);
     ByteCount size = 0;
     for (int i = 0; i < num_frames; ++i)
-        size += StringView::strlen(symbols[i]) + 1;
+        size += strlen(symbols[i]) + 1;
 
     String res; res.reserve(size);
     for (int i = 0; i < num_frames; ++i)
diff --git a/src/insert_completer.cc b/src/insert_completer.cc
index fe219399..f1ccf9ac 100644
--- a/src/insert_completer.cc
+++ b/src/insert_completer.cc
@@ -88,12 +88,12 @@ InsertCompletion complete_word(const Buffer& buffer, ByteCoord cursor_pos, const
     if (not is_word(*begin))
         ++begin;
 
-    String prefix{begin.base(), end.base()};
+    auto prefix = buffer.string(begin.base().coord(), end.base().coord());
 
     while (end != buffer.end() and is_word(*end))
         ++end;
 
-    String current_word{begin.base(), end.base()};
+    auto current_word = buffer.string(begin.base().coord(), end.base().coord());
 
     struct RankedMatchAndBuffer : RankedMatch
     {
@@ -189,7 +189,7 @@ InsertCompletion complete_filename(const Buffer& buffer, ByteCoord cursor_pos,
     if (begin == pos)
         return {};
 
-    String prefix{begin, pos};
+    auto prefix = buffer.string(begin.coord(), pos.coord());
     if (require_slash and not contains(prefix, '/'))
         return {};
 
diff --git a/src/normal.cc b/src/normal.cc
index 60b8a23c..c33c2ec2 100644
--- a/src/normal.cc
+++ b/src/normal.cc
@@ -366,7 +366,7 @@ void command(Context& context, NormalParams params)
             {
                 EnvVarMap env_vars = {
                     { "count", to_string(params.count) },
-                    { "register", String{params.reg} }
+                    { "register", String{&params.reg, 1} }
                 };
                 CommandManager::instance().execute(
                     cmdline, context, { {}, env_vars });
diff --git a/src/regex.cc b/src/regex.cc
index 39a298cc..686e94c4 100644
--- a/src/regex.cc
+++ b/src/regex.cc
@@ -7,8 +7,7 @@ namespace Kakoune
 
 String option_to_string(const Regex& re)
 {
-    const auto& str = re.str();
-    return {str.begin(), str.end()};
+    return re.str();
 }
 
 void option_from_string(StringView str, Regex& re)
diff --git a/src/regex.hh b/src/regex.hh
index 93c5d462..a26daab7 100644
--- a/src/regex.hh
+++ b/src/regex.hh
@@ -59,7 +59,7 @@ struct Regex : boost::regex
         : boost::regex(begin, end, flags) {}
         catch (std::runtime_error& err) { throw regex_error(err.what()); }
 
-    String str() const { auto s = boost::regex::str(); return {s.begin(), s.end()}; }
+    String str() const { auto s = boost::regex::str(); return {s.data(), (int)s.length()}; }
 };
 namespace regex_ns = boost;
 #endif
diff --git a/src/selectors.hh b/src/selectors.hh
index a75cb35b..dc28dfd8 100644
--- a/src/selectors.hh
+++ b/src/selectors.hh
@@ -289,7 +289,8 @@ Selection find_next_match(const Buffer& buffer, const Selection& sel, const Rege
         begin = ensure_char_start(buffer, matches[0].first);
         end = ensure_char_start(buffer, matches[0].second);
         for (auto& match : matches)
-            captures.emplace_back(match.first, match.second);
+            captures.push_back(buffer.string(match.first.coord(),
+                                             match.second.coord()));
     }
     if (not found or begin == buffer.end())
         throw runtime_error(format("'{}': no matches found", regex.str()));
diff --git a/src/string.hh b/src/string.hh
index a5fb8ab3..5b62bf12 100644
--- a/src/string.hh
+++ b/src/string.hh
@@ -85,6 +85,12 @@ private:
     const Type& type() const { return *static_cast<const Type*>(this); }
 };
 
+[[gnu::optimize(3)]] // this is recursive for constexpr reason
+constexpr ByteCount strlen(const char* s)
+{
+    return *s == 0 ? 0 : strlen(s+1) + 1;
+}
+
 class String : public StringOps<String, char>
 {
 public:
@@ -92,16 +98,14 @@ public:
                                       Allocator<char, MemoryDomain::String>>;
 
     String() {}
-    String(const char* content) : m_data(content) {}
+    String(const char* content) : m_data(content, (size_t)(int)strlen(content)) {}
     String(const char* content, ByteCount len) : m_data(content, (size_t)(int)len) {}
-    explicit String(char content, CharCount count = 1) : m_data((size_t)(int)count, content) {}
     explicit String(Codepoint cp, CharCount count = 1)
     {
         while (count-- > 0)
             utf8::dump(std::back_inserter(*this), cp);
     }
-    template<typename Iterator>
-    String(Iterator begin, Iterator end) : m_data(begin, end) {}
+    String(const char* begin, const char* end) : m_data(begin, end-begin) {}
 
     [[gnu::always_inline]]
     char* data() { return &m_data[0]; }
@@ -148,7 +152,7 @@ public:
     [[gnu::always_inline]]
     constexpr ByteCount length() const { return m_length; }
 
-    String str() const { return {begin(), end()}; }
+    String str() const { return {m_data, m_length}; }
 
     struct ZeroTerminatedString
     {
@@ -168,12 +172,6 @@ public:
     };
     ZeroTerminatedString zstr() const { return {begin(), end()}; }
 
-    [[gnu::optimize(3)]] // this is recursive for constexpr reason
-    static constexpr ByteCount strlen(const char* s)
-    {
-        return *s == 0 ? 0 : strlen(s+1) + 1;
-    }
-
 private:
     const char* m_data = nullptr;
     ByteCount m_length = 0;