diff --git a/ext/standard/basic_functions.c b/ext/standard/basic_functions.c
index 33247c4cb3941..c30c93a9689f6 100755
--- a/ext/standard/basic_functions.c
+++ b/ext/standard/basic_functions.c
@@ -727,98 +727,98 @@ PHP_FUNCTION(long2ip)
  * System Functions *
  ********************/
 
-/* {{{ Get the value of an environment variable or every available environment variable
-   if no varname is present  */
-PHP_FUNCTION(getenv)
-{
-	char *ptr, *str = NULL;
-	size_t str_len;
-	zend_bool local_only = 0;
-
-	ZEND_PARSE_PARAMETERS_START(0, 2)
-		Z_PARAM_OPTIONAL
-		Z_PARAM_STRING_OR_NULL(str, str_len)
-		Z_PARAM_BOOL(local_only)
-	ZEND_PARSE_PARAMETERS_END();
-
-	if (!str) {
-		array_init(return_value);
-		php_import_environment_variables(return_value);
-		return;
-	}
-
-	if (!local_only) {
-		/* SAPI method returns an emalloc()'d string */
-		ptr = sapi_getenv(str, str_len);
-		if (ptr) {
-			// TODO: avoid reallocation ???
-			RETVAL_STRING(ptr);
-			efree(ptr);
-			return;
-		}
-	}
+PHPAPI zend_string *php_getenv(const char *str, size_t str_len) {
 #ifdef PHP_WIN32
 	{
-		wchar_t dummybuf;
-		DWORD size;
-		wchar_t *keyw, *valw;
-
-		keyw = php_win32_cp_conv_any_to_w(str, str_len, PHP_WIN32_CP_IGNORE_LEN_P);
+		wchar_t *keyw = php_win32_cp_conv_any_to_w(str, str_len, PHP_WIN32_CP_IGNORE_LEN_P);
 		if (!keyw) {
-				RETURN_FALSE;
+			return NULL;
 		}
 
 		SetLastError(0);
-		/*If the given buffer is not large enough to hold the data, the return value is
-		the buffer size,  in characters, required to hold the string and its terminating
-		null character. We use this return value to alloc the final buffer. */
-		size = GetEnvironmentVariableW(keyw, &dummybuf, 0);
+		/* If the given buffer is not large enough to hold the data, the return value is
+		 * the buffer size,  in characters, required to hold the string and its terminating
+		 * null character. We use this return value to alloc the final buffer. */
+		wchar_t dummybuf;
+		DWORD size = GetEnvironmentVariableW(keyw, &dummybuf, 0);
 		if (GetLastError() == ERROR_ENVVAR_NOT_FOUND) {
-				/* The environment variable doesn't exist. */
-				free(keyw);
-				RETURN_FALSE;
+			/* The environment variable doesn't exist. */
+			free(keyw);
+			return NULL;
 		}
 
 		if (size == 0) {
-				/* env exists, but it is empty */
-				free(keyw);
-				RETURN_EMPTY_STRING();
+			/* env exists, but it is empty */
+			free(keyw);
+			return ZSTR_EMPTY_ALLOC();
 		}
 
-		valw = emalloc((size + 1) * sizeof(wchar_t));
+		wchar_t *valw = emalloc((size + 1) * sizeof(wchar_t));
 		size = GetEnvironmentVariableW(keyw, valw, size);
 		if (size == 0) {
-				/* has been removed between the two calls */
-				free(keyw);
-				efree(valw);
-				RETURN_EMPTY_STRING();
+			/* has been removed between the two calls */
+			free(keyw);
+			efree(valw);
+			return ZSTR_EMPTY_ALLOC();
 		} else {
-			ptr = php_win32_cp_w_to_any(valw);
-			RETVAL_STRING(ptr);
+			char *ptr = php_win32_cp_w_to_any(valw);
+			zend_string *result = zend_string_init(ptr, strlen(ptr), 0);
 			free(ptr);
 			free(keyw);
 			efree(valw);
-			return;
+			return result;
 		}
 	}
 #else
-
     tsrm_env_lock();
 
 	/* system method returns a const */
-	ptr = getenv(str);
-
+	char *ptr = getenv(str);
+	zend_string *result = NULL;
 	if (ptr) {
-		RETVAL_STRING(ptr);
+		result = zend_string_init(ptr, strlen(ptr), 0);
 	}
 
     tsrm_env_unlock();
+	return result;
+#endif
+}
 
-    if (ptr) {
-        return;
-    }
+/* {{{ Get the value of an environment variable or every available environment variable
+   if no varname is present  */
+PHP_FUNCTION(getenv)
+{
+	char *str = NULL;
+	size_t str_len;
+	zend_bool local_only = 0;
 
-#endif
+	ZEND_PARSE_PARAMETERS_START(0, 2)
+		Z_PARAM_OPTIONAL
+		Z_PARAM_STRING_OR_NULL(str, str_len)
+		Z_PARAM_BOOL(local_only)
+	ZEND_PARSE_PARAMETERS_END();
+
+	if (!str) {
+		array_init(return_value);
+		php_import_environment_variables(return_value);
+		return;
+	}
+
+	if (!local_only) {
+		/* SAPI method returns an emalloc()'d string */
+		char *ptr = sapi_getenv(str, str_len);
+		if (ptr) {
+			// TODO: avoid reallocation ???
+			RETVAL_STRING(ptr);
+			efree(ptr);
+			return;
+		}
+	}
+
+	zend_string *res = php_getenv(str, str_len);
+	if (res) {
+		RETURN_STR(res);
+	}
 	RETURN_FALSE;
 }
 /* }}} */
diff --git a/ext/standard/basic_functions.h b/ext/standard/basic_functions.h
index 34b2570175ab3..6c745dc549e8d 100644
--- a/ext/standard/basic_functions.h
+++ b/ext/standard/basic_functions.h
@@ -137,6 +137,8 @@ typedef struct {
 } putenv_entry;
 #endif
 
+PHPAPI zend_string *php_getenv(const char *str, size_t str_len);
+
 PHPAPI double php_get_nan(void);
 PHPAPI double php_get_inf(void);