diff --git a/src/nano.c b/src/nano.c
index 75a800fc9b0a9f8b68031cab4e5473590aeb307d..74427851e42e9ff5d6912a7d113be25dad438192 100644
--- a/src/nano.c
+++ b/src/nano.c
@@ -3567,13 +3567,13 @@ void do_output(int *kbinput, size_t kbinput_len)
 	/* Do we have to call edit_refresh(), or can we get away with
 	 * update_line()? */
 
-    char *key = charalloc(
+    char key[
 #ifdef NANO_WIDE
-	MB_CUR_MAX
+	MB_LEN_MAX
 #else
 	1
 #endif
-	);		/* The current multibyte character we have. */
+	];		/* The current multibyte character we have. */
     int key_len;	/* The length of the current multibyte
 			 * character. */
 
@@ -3665,8 +3665,6 @@ void do_output(int *kbinput, size_t kbinput_len)
 #endif
     }
 
-    free(key);
-
     /* Turn constant cursor position display back on if it was on
      * before. */
     if (old_constupdate)
diff --git a/src/winio.c b/src/winio.c
index da52d05344ac10412755bc99edc6a92edcf128d2..c2509032207f2154d8e125607e66ea8ac83e94d1 100644
--- a/src/winio.c
+++ b/src/winio.c
@@ -263,18 +263,17 @@ void unget_input(buffer *input, size_t input_len)
 #ifdef NANO_WIDE
     if (!ISSET(NO_UTF8)) {
 	size_t i;
-	char *key = charalloc(MB_CUR_MAX);
 
 	/* Change all invalid wide character values to -1. */
 	for (i = 0; i < input_len; i++) {
+	    char key[MB_LEN_MAX];
+
 	    if (!input[i].key_code) {
 		if (wctomb(key, input[i].key) == -1)
 		    input[i].key = -1;
 	    }
 	}
 
-	free(key);
-
 	/* Save all of the non-(-1) wide characters in another
 	 * buffer. */
 	for (i = 0; i < input_len; i++) {