diff --git a/src/compiletest/compiletest.rc b/src/compiletest/compiletest.rc
index 7a0622d059d..e832534b227 100644
--- a/src/compiletest/compiletest.rc
+++ b/src/compiletest/compiletest.rc
@@ -231,11 +231,11 @@ pub fn is_test(config: &config, testfile: &Path) -> bool {
     let mut valid = false;
 
     for valid_extensions.each |ext| {
-        if str::ends_with(name, *ext) { valid = true; }
+        if name.ends_with(*ext) { valid = true; }
     }
 
     for invalid_prefixes.each |pre| {
-        if str::starts_with(name, *pre) { valid = false; }
+        if name.starts_with(*pre) { valid = false; }
     }
 
     return valid;
diff --git a/src/compiletest/header.rs b/src/compiletest/header.rs
index d8562d725a7..87f5f4bd3fa 100644
--- a/src/compiletest/header.rs
+++ b/src/compiletest/header.rs
@@ -112,7 +112,7 @@ fn iter_header(testfile: &Path, it: &fn(~str) -> bool) -> bool {
         // Assume that any directives will be found before the first
         // module or function. This doesn't seem to be an optimization
         // with a warm page cache. Maybe with a cold one.
-        if str::starts_with(ln, "fn") || str::starts_with(ln, "mod") {
+        if ln.starts_with("fn") || ln.starts_with("mod") {
             return false;
         } else { if !(it(ln)) { return false; } }
     }
diff --git a/src/compiletest/procsrv.rs b/src/compiletest/procsrv.rs
index f86ab2c9093..87188100f4c 100644
--- a/src/compiletest/procsrv.rs
+++ b/src/compiletest/procsrv.rs
@@ -28,7 +28,7 @@ fn target_env(lib_path: &str, prog: &str) -> ~[(~str,~str)] {
         if k == ~"PATH" { (~"PATH", v + ";" + lib_path + ";" + aux_path) }
         else { (k,v) }
     };
-    if str::ends_with(prog, "rustc.exe") {
+    if prog.ends_with("rustc.exe") {
         env.push((~"RUST_THREADS", ~"1"));
     }
     return env;
diff --git a/src/compiletest/runtest.rs b/src/compiletest/runtest.rs
index 16190f69549..7159e51e3b6 100644
--- a/src/compiletest/runtest.rs
+++ b/src/compiletest/runtest.rs
@@ -364,7 +364,7 @@ fn check_expected_errors(expected_errors: ~[errors::ExpectedError],
             if !found_flags[i] {
                 debug!("prefix=%s ee.kind=%s ee.msg=%s line=%s",
                        prefixes[i], ee.kind, ee.msg, line);
-                if (str::starts_with(line, prefixes[i]) &&
+                if (line.starts_with(prefixes[i]) &&
                     line.contains(ee.kind) &&
                     line.contains(ee.msg)) {
                     found_flags[i] = true;
diff --git a/src/libextra/net_url.rs b/src/libextra/net_url.rs
index 46e76a7a399..c85a866a04a 100644
--- a/src/libextra/net_url.rs
+++ b/src/libextra/net_url.rs
@@ -394,7 +394,7 @@ enum Input {
 // returns userinfo, host, port, and unparsed part, or an error
 fn get_authority(rawurl: &str) ->
     Result<(Option<UserInfo>, ~str, Option<~str>, ~str), ~str> {
-    if !str::starts_with(rawurl, "//") {
+    if !raw_url.starts_with("//") {
         // there is no authority.
         return Ok((None, ~"", None, rawurl.to_str()));
     }
@@ -579,7 +579,7 @@ fn get_path(rawurl: &str, authority: bool) ->
     }
 
     if authority {
-        if end != 0 && !str::starts_with(rawurl, "/") {
+        if end != 0 && !rawurl.starts_with("/") {
             return Err(~"Non-empty path must begin with\
                                '/' in presence of authority.");
         }
@@ -592,8 +592,8 @@ fn get_path(rawurl: &str, authority: bool) ->
 // returns the parsed query and the fragment, if present
 fn get_query_fragment(rawurl: &str) ->
     Result<(Query, Option<~str>), ~str> {
-    if !str::starts_with(rawurl, "?") {
-        if str::starts_with(rawurl, "#") {
+    if !rawurl.starts_with("?") {
+        if rawurl.starts_with("#") {
             let f = decode_component(rawurl.slice(
                                                 1,
                                                 rawurl.len()));
diff --git a/src/libextra/tempfile.rs b/src/libextra/tempfile.rs
index 98c57838072..c239e65e2d9 100644
--- a/src/libextra/tempfile.rs
+++ b/src/libextra/tempfile.rs
@@ -42,7 +42,7 @@ mod tests {
     fn test_mkdtemp() {
         let p = mkdtemp(&Path("."), "foobar").unwrap();
         os::remove_dir(&p);
-        assert!(str::ends_with(p.to_str(), "foobar"));
+        assert!(p.to_str().ends_with("foobar"));
     }
 
     // Ideally these would be in core::os but then core would need
diff --git a/src/librustc/back/rpath.rs b/src/librustc/back/rpath.rs
index a84cb2cdbe1..5e5e0067afa 100644
--- a/src/librustc/back/rpath.rs
+++ b/src/librustc/back/rpath.rs
@@ -240,7 +240,7 @@ fn test_prefix_rpath() {
         debug!("test_prefix_path: %s vs. %s",
                res.to_str(),
                d.to_str());
-        assert!(str::ends_with(res.to_str(), d.to_str()));
+        assert!(res.to_str().ends_with(d.to_str()));
     }
 
     #[test]
diff --git a/src/librustc/middle/trans/debuginfo.rs b/src/librustc/middle/trans/debuginfo.rs
index bc863fb363f..ce93cad73b6 100644
--- a/src/librustc/middle/trans/debuginfo.rs
+++ b/src/librustc/middle/trans/debuginfo.rs
@@ -244,7 +244,7 @@ fn get_cache(cx: @CrateContext) -> metadata_cache {
 }
 
 fn get_file_path_and_dir(work_dir: &str, full_path: &str) -> (~str, ~str) {
-    (if str::starts_with(full_path, work_dir) {
+    (if full_path.starts_with(work_dir) {
         full_path.slice(work_dir.len() + 1u,
                    full_path.len()).to_owned()
     } else {
diff --git a/src/librustdoc/desc_to_brief_pass.rs b/src/librustdoc/desc_to_brief_pass.rs
index 0f4ade0551d..13ad47e34b8 100644
--- a/src/librustdoc/desc_to_brief_pass.rs
+++ b/src/librustdoc/desc_to_brief_pass.rs
@@ -134,7 +134,7 @@ fn first_sentence_(s: &str) -> ~str {
             str::to_owned(s.slice(0, idx - 1))
         }
         _ => {
-            if str::ends_with(s, ".") {
+            if s.ends_with(".") {
                 str::to_owned(s)
             } else {
                 str::to_owned(s)
diff --git a/src/librustdoc/sectionalize_pass.rs b/src/librustdoc/sectionalize_pass.rs
index ddc1b7dfe21..8716f823848 100644
--- a/src/librustdoc/sectionalize_pass.rs
+++ b/src/librustdoc/sectionalize_pass.rs
@@ -153,7 +153,7 @@ fn sectionalize(desc: Option<~str>) -> (Option<~str>, ~[doc::Section]) {
 }
 
 fn parse_header(line: ~str) -> Option<~str> {
-    if str::starts_with(line, "# ") {
+    if line.starts_with("# ") {
         Some(line.slice(2u, line.len()).to_owned())
     } else {
         None
diff --git a/src/libstd/io.rs b/src/libstd/io.rs
index 7f3af79e27c..409882c5cfe 100644
--- a/src/libstd/io.rs
+++ b/src/libstd/io.rs
@@ -1979,7 +1979,7 @@ fn test_write_empty() {
     fn file_writer_bad_name() {
         match io::file_writer(&Path("?/?"), []) {
           result::Err(e) => {
-            assert!(str::starts_with(e, "error opening"));
+            assert!(e.starts_with("error opening"));
           }
           result::Ok(_) => fail!()
         }
@@ -1989,7 +1989,7 @@ fn file_writer_bad_name() {
     fn buffered_file_writer_bad_name() {
         match io::buffered_file_writer(&Path("?/?")) {
           result::Err(e) => {
-            assert!(str::starts_with(e, "error opening"));
+            assert!(e.starts_with("error opening"));
           }
           result::Ok(_) => fail!()
         }
diff --git a/src/libstd/str.rs b/src/libstd/str.rs
index f525c34cc47..03169a167b3 100644
--- a/src/libstd/str.rs
+++ b/src/libstd/str.rs
@@ -977,36 +977,6 @@ fn match_at<'a,'b>(haystack: &'a str, needle: &'b str, at: uint) -> bool {
 }
 
 
-/**
- * Returns true if one string starts with another
- *
- * # Arguments
- *
- * * haystack - The string to look in
- * * needle - The string to look for
- */
-pub fn starts_with<'a,'b>(haystack: &'a str, needle: &'b str) -> bool {
-    let (haystack_len, needle_len) = (haystack.len(), needle.len());
-    if needle_len == 0u { true }
-    else if needle_len > haystack_len { false }
-    else { match_at(haystack, needle, 0u) }
-}
-
-/**
- * Returns true if one string ends with another
- *
- * # Arguments
- *
- * * haystack - The string to look in
- * * needle - The string to look for
- */
-pub fn ends_with<'a,'b>(haystack: &'a str, needle: &'b str) -> bool {
-    let (haystack_len, needle_len) = (haystack.len(), needle.len());
-    if needle_len == 0u { true }
-    else if needle_len > haystack_len { false }
-    else { match_at(haystack, needle, haystack_len - needle_len) }
-}
-
 /*
 Section: String properties
 */
@@ -1600,7 +1570,7 @@ fn split_options_iter<Sep: CharEq>(&self, sep: Sep, count: uint, allow_trailing_
     fn slice(&self, begin: uint, end: uint) -> &'self str;
     fn slice_from(&self, begin: uint) -> &'self str;
     fn slice_to(&self, end: uint) -> &'self str;
-    fn starts_with<'a>(&self, needle: &'a str) -> bool;
+    fn starts_with(&self, needle: &str) -> bool;
     fn substr(&self, begin: uint, n: uint) -> &'self str;
     fn escape_default(&self) -> ~str;
     fn escape_unicode(&self) -> ~str;
@@ -1770,12 +1740,6 @@ fn word_iter(&self) -> WordIterator<'self> {
         self.split_iter(char::is_whitespace).filter(|s| !s.is_empty())
     }
 
-
-    /// Returns true if one string ends with another
-    #[inline]
-    fn ends_with(&self, needle: &str) -> bool {
-        ends_with(*self, needle)
-    }
     /// Returns true if the string has length 0
     #[inline]
     fn is_empty(&self) -> bool { self.len() == 0 }
@@ -1831,11 +1795,21 @@ fn slice_from(&self, begin: uint) -> &'self str {
     fn slice_to(&self, end: uint) -> &'self str {
         self.slice(0, end)
     }
-    /// Checks if `needle` is a prefix of the string.
-    #[inline]
+    /// Returns true if `needle` is a prefix of the string.
     fn starts_with<'a>(&self, needle: &'a str) -> bool {
-        starts_with(*self, needle)
+        let (self_len, needle_len) = (self.len(), needle.len());
+        if needle_len == 0u { true }
+        else if needle_len > self_len { false }
+        else { match_at(*self, needle, 0u) }
     }
+    /// Returns true if `needle` is a suffix of the string.
+    pub fn ends_with(&self, needle: &str) -> bool {
+        let (self_len, needle_len) = (self.len(), needle.len());
+        if needle_len == 0u { true }
+        else if needle_len > self_len { false }
+        else { match_at(*self, needle, self_len - needle_len) }
+    }
+
     /**
      * Take a substring of another.
      *
@@ -2591,20 +2565,20 @@ fn half_a_million_letter_a() -> ~str {
 
     #[test]
     fn test_starts_with() {
-        assert!((starts_with("", "")));
-        assert!((starts_with("abc", "")));
-        assert!((starts_with("abc", "a")));
-        assert!((!starts_with("a", "abc")));
-        assert!((!starts_with("", "abc")));
+        assert!(("".starts_with("")));
+        assert!(("abc".starts_with("")));
+        assert!(("abc".starts_with("a")));
+        assert!((!"a".starts_with("abc")));
+        assert!((!"".starts_with("abc")));
     }
 
     #[test]
     fn test_ends_with() {
-        assert!((ends_with("", "")));
-        assert!((ends_with("abc", "")));
-        assert!((ends_with("abc", "c")));
-        assert!((!ends_with("a", "abc")));
-        assert!((!ends_with("", "abc")));
+        assert!(("".ends_with("")));
+        assert!(("abc".ends_with("")));
+        assert!(("abc".ends_with("c")));
+        assert!((!"a".ends_with("abc")));
+        assert!((!"".ends_with("abc")));
     }
 
     #[test]