diff --git a/src/mstch.cpp b/src/mstch.cpp
index 795365d..af9c84f 100644
--- a/src/mstch.cpp
+++ b/src/mstch.cpp
@@ -1,31 +1,11 @@
-#include <regex>
 #include <iostream>
 
 #include "mstch/mstch.hpp"
 #include "render_context.hpp"
+#include "utils.hpp"
 
 using namespace mstch;
 
-std::string strip_whitespace(std::string tmplt) {
-    std::regex comment_match("\\{\\{![^\\}]*\\}\\}");
-    tmplt = std::regex_replace(tmplt, comment_match, "{{!}}");
-    std::ostringstream out;
-    std::istringstream in(tmplt);
-    std::string line;
-    std::regex tag_match("\\{{2}[ ]*[#|/|^|!]{1}[^\\}]*\\}{2}");
-    std::regex whitespace_match("^\\s*$");
-    while (std::getline(in, line)) {
-        std::string no_tags = std::regex_replace(line, tag_match, "");
-        if (no_tags != line && std::regex_match(no_tags, whitespace_match)) {
-            out << std::regex_replace(line, std::regex("\\s"), "");
-        } else {
-            out << line;
-            if(!in.eof()) out << std::endl;
-        }
-    }
-    return out.str();
-}
-
 std::string mstch::render(
         const std::string& tmplt,
         const object& root_object,
diff --git a/src/utils.cpp b/src/utils.cpp
index 558c2c7..1f8efcd 100644
--- a/src/utils.cpp
+++ b/src/utils.cpp
@@ -1,7 +1,28 @@
 #include "utils.hpp"
 
+#include <regex>
 #include <boost/algorithm/string/replace.hpp>
 
+std::string mstch::strip_whitespace(std::string tmplt) {
+    std::regex comment_match("\\{\\{![^\\}]*\\}\\}");
+    tmplt = std::regex_replace(tmplt, comment_match, "{{!}}");
+    std::ostringstream out;
+    std::istringstream in(tmplt);
+    std::string line;
+    std::regex tag_match("\\{{2}[ ]*[#|/|^|!]{1}[^\\}]*\\}{2}");
+    std::regex whitespace_match("^\\s*$");
+    while (std::getline(in, line)) {
+        std::string no_tags = std::regex_replace(line, tag_match, "");
+        if (no_tags != line && std::regex_match(no_tags, whitespace_match)) {
+            out << std::regex_replace(line, std::regex("\\s"), "");
+        } else {
+            out << line;
+            if(!in.eof()) out << std::endl;
+        }
+    }
+    return out.str();
+}
+
 std::string mstch::html_escape(std::string str) {
     boost::replace_all(str, "&", "&amp;");
     boost::replace_all(str, "'", "&#39;");
diff --git a/src/utils.hpp b/src/utils.hpp
index ff7cdaa..ba4d411 100644
--- a/src/utils.hpp
+++ b/src/utils.hpp
@@ -4,6 +4,7 @@
 #include <string>
 
 namespace mstch {
+    std::string strip_whitespace(std::string tmplt);
     std::string html_escape(std::string str);
 }