diff --git a/vlib/encoding/utf8/east_asian/east_asian_width.v b/vlib/encoding/utf8/east_asian/east_asian_width.v
index 4043771a69..bf9b153a68 100644
--- a/vlib/encoding/utf8/east_asian/east_asian_width.v
+++ b/vlib/encoding/utf8/east_asian/east_asian_width.v
@@ -20,7 +20,7 @@ pub enum EastAsianWidthProperty {
 pub fn display_width(s string, ambiguous_width int) int {
 	mut i, mut n := 0, 0
 	for i < s.len {
-		c_len := utf8.char_len(s[i])
+		c_len := utf8_char_len(s[i])
 		n += match east_asian_width_property_at(s, i) {
 			.ambiguous { ambiguous_width }
 			.full, .wide { int(2) }
diff --git a/vlib/encoding/utf8/utf8_util.v b/vlib/encoding/utf8/utf8_util.v
index 704c9d43e2..7c94686a57 100644
--- a/vlib/encoding/utf8/utf8_util.v
+++ b/vlib/encoding/utf8/utf8_util.v
@@ -23,7 +23,7 @@ pub fn len(s string) int {
 	mut index := 0
 
 	for {
-		ch_len := char_len(s[index])
+		ch_len := utf8_char_len(s[index])
 		index += ch_len
 		count++
 		if index >= s.len {
@@ -39,6 +39,7 @@ pub fn u_len(s ustring) int {
 }
 
 // char_len calculate the length in bytes of a utf8 char
+[deprecated: 'use builtin utf8_char_len']
 pub fn char_len(b byte) int {
 	return ((0xe5000000 >> ((b >> 3) & 0x1e)) & 3) + 1
 }
@@ -48,7 +49,7 @@ pub fn get_uchar(s string, index int) int {
 	mut res := 0
 	mut ch_len := 0
 	if s.len > 0 {
-		ch_len = char_len(s[index])
+		ch_len = utf8_char_len(s[index])
 
 		if ch_len == 1 {
 			return u16(s[index])
@@ -169,7 +170,7 @@ fn up_low(s string, upper_flag bool) string {
 	mut str_res := unsafe {malloc(s.len + 1)}
 
 	for {
-		ch_len := char_len(s[index])
+		ch_len := utf8_char_len(s[index])
 
 		if ch_len == 1 {
 			if upper_flag==true {
diff --git a/vlib/v/scanner/scanner.v b/vlib/v/scanner/scanner.v
index 5ac872be07..d47e18ba91 100644
--- a/vlib/v/scanner/scanner.v
+++ b/vlib/v/scanner/scanner.v
@@ -4,7 +4,6 @@
 module scanner
 
 import os
-import encoding.utf8
 import v.token
 import v.pref
 import v.util
@@ -1057,7 +1056,7 @@ fn (mut s Scanner) text_scan() token.Token {
 }
 
 fn (mut s Scanner) invalid_character() {
-	len := utf8.char_len(s.text[s.pos])
+	len := utf8_char_len(s.text[s.pos])
 	end := util.imin(s.pos + len, s.text.len)
 	c := s.text[s.pos..end]
 	s.error('invalid character `$c`')