diff --git a/src/basic/strxcpyx.c b/src/basic/strxcpyx.c
index aaf11d21f6b..5e2098467b8 100644
--- a/src/basic/strxcpyx.c
+++ b/src/basic/strxcpyx.c
@@ -19,8 +19,13 @@
 
 /*
  * Concatenates/copies strings. In any case, terminates in all cases
- * with '\0' * and moves the @dest pointer forward to the added '\0'.
- * Returns the * remaining size, and 0 if the string was truncated.
+ * with '\0' and moves the @dest pointer forward to the added '\0'.
+ * Returns the remaining size, and 0 if the string was truncated.
+ *
+ * Due to the intended usage, these helpers silently noop invocations
+ * having zero size.  This is technically an exception to the above
+ * statement "terminates in all cases".  It's unexpected for such calls to
+ * occur outside of a loop where this is the preferred behavior.
  */
 
 #include <stdarg.h>
@@ -32,6 +37,9 @@
 size_t strpcpy(char **dest, size_t size, const char *src) {
         size_t len;
 
+        if (size == 0)
+                return 0;
+
         len = strlen(src);
         if (len >= size) {
                 if (size > 1)
@@ -51,17 +59,18 @@ size_t strpcpyf(char **dest, size_t size, const char *src, ...) {
         va_list va;
         int i;
 
+        if (size == 0)
+                return 0;
+
         va_start(va, src);
         i = vsnprintf(*dest, size, src, va);
         if (i < (int)size) {
                 *dest += i;
                 size -= i;
         } else {
-                *dest += size;
                 size = 0;
         }
         va_end(va);
-        *dest[0] = '\0';
         return size;
 }