diff --git a/src/buffer.hh b/src/buffer.hh
index 60820487..c8870509 100644
--- a/src/buffer.hh
+++ b/src/buffer.hh
@@ -64,8 +64,8 @@ public:
     bool operator>  (const BufferIterator& iterator) const;
     bool operator>= (const BufferIterator& iterator) const;
 
-    char   operator* () const;
-    char   operator[](size_t n) const;
+    const char& operator* () const;
+    const char& operator[](size_t n) const;
     size_t operator- (const BufferIterator& iterator) const;
 
     BufferIterator operator+ (ByteCount size) const;
@@ -133,7 +133,7 @@ public:
 
     String         string(ByteCoord begin, ByteCoord end) const;
 
-    char           byte_at(ByteCoord c) const;
+    const char&    byte_at(ByteCoord c) const;
     ByteCount      distance(ByteCoord begin, ByteCoord end) const;
     ByteCoord      advance(ByteCoord coord, ByteCount count) const;
     ByteCoord      next(ByteCoord coord) const;
diff --git a/src/buffer.inl.hh b/src/buffer.inl.hh
index cabec9c8..d6af3d4a 100644
--- a/src/buffer.inl.hh
+++ b/src/buffer.inl.hh
@@ -7,7 +7,7 @@ namespace Kakoune
 {
 
 [[gnu::always_inline]]
-inline char Buffer::byte_at(ByteCoord c) const
+inline const char& Buffer::byte_at(ByteCoord c) const
 {
     kak_assert(c.line < line_count() and c.column < m_lines[c.line].length());
     return m_lines[c.line][c.column];
@@ -152,12 +152,12 @@ inline bool BufferIterator::operator>=(const BufferIterator& iterator) const
 }
 
 [[gnu::always_inline]]
-inline char BufferIterator::operator*() const
+inline const char& BufferIterator::operator*() const
 {
     return m_buffer->byte_at(m_coord);
 }
 
-inline char BufferIterator::operator[](size_t n) const
+inline const char& BufferIterator::operator[](size_t n) const
 {
     return m_buffer->byte_at(m_buffer->advance(m_coord, n));
 }