diff --git a/src/libutil/types.hh b/src/libutil/types.hh
index 9c85fef62..8f72c926f 100644
--- a/src/libutil/types.hh
+++ b/src/libutil/types.hh
@@ -22,6 +22,7 @@ typedef std::map<string, string> StringMap;
 /* Paths are just strings. */
 
 typedef string Path;
+typedef std::string_view PathView;
 typedef list<Path> Paths;
 typedef set<Path> PathSet;
 
diff --git a/src/libutil/util.cc b/src/libutil/util.cc
index 9edd69c64..47876709e 100644
--- a/src/libutil/util.cc
+++ b/src/libutil/util.cc
@@ -106,16 +106,16 @@ Path absPath(Path path, std::optional<Path> dir, bool resolveSymlinks)
 }
 
 
-Path canonPath(const Path & path, bool resolveSymlinks)
+Path canonPath(PathView path, bool resolveSymlinks)
 {
     assert(path != "");
 
     string s;
+    s.reserve(256);
 
     if (path[0] != '/')
         throw Error("not an absolute path: '%1%'", path);
 
-    string::const_iterator i = path.begin(), end = path.end();
     string temp;
 
     /* Count the number of times we follow a symlink and stop at some
@@ -125,33 +125,37 @@ Path canonPath(const Path & path, bool resolveSymlinks)
     while (1) {
 
         /* Skip slashes. */
-        while (i != end && *i == '/') i++;
-        if (i == end) break;
+        while (!path.empty() && path[0] == '/') path.remove_prefix(1);
+        if (path.empty()) break;
 
         /* Ignore `.'. */
-        if (*i == '.' && (i + 1 == end || i[1] == '/'))
-            i++;
+        if (path == "." || path.substr(0, 2) == "./")
+            path.remove_prefix(1);
 
         /* If `..', delete the last component. */
-        else if (*i == '.' && i + 1 < end && i[1] == '.' &&
-            (i + 2 == end || i[2] == '/'))
+        else if (path == ".." || path.substr(0, 3) == "../")
         {
             if (!s.empty()) s.erase(s.rfind('/'));
-            i += 2;
+            path.remove_prefix(2);
         }
 
         /* Normal component; copy it. */
         else {
             s += '/';
-            while (i != end && *i != '/') s += *i++;
+            if (const auto slash = path.find('/'); slash == string::npos) {
+                s += path;
+                path = {};
+            } else {
+                s += path.substr(0, slash);
+                path = path.substr(slash + 1);
+            }
 
             /* If s points to a symlink, resolve it and continue from there */
             if (resolveSymlinks && isLink(s)) {
                 if (++followCount >= maxFollow)
                     throw Error("infinite symlink recursion in path '%1%'", path);
-                temp = readLink(s) + string(i, end);
-                i = temp.begin();
-                end = temp.end();
+                temp = concatStrings(readLink(s), path);
+                path = temp;
                 if (!temp.empty() && temp[0] == '/') {
                     s.clear();  /* restart for symlinks pointing to absolute path */
                 } else {
@@ -164,7 +168,7 @@ Path canonPath(const Path & path, bool resolveSymlinks)
         }
     }
 
-    return s.empty() ? "/" : s;
+    return s.empty() ? "/" : std::move(s);
 }
 
 
@@ -1229,23 +1233,22 @@ void _interrupted()
 //////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
 
 
-template<class C> C tokenizeString(std::string_view s, const string & separators)
+template<class C> C tokenizeString(std::string_view s, std::string_view separators)
 {
     C result;
     string::size_type pos = s.find_first_not_of(separators, 0);
     while (pos != string::npos) {
         string::size_type end = s.find_first_of(separators, pos + 1);
         if (end == string::npos) end = s.size();
-        string token(s, pos, end - pos);
-        result.insert(result.end(), token);
+        result.insert(result.end(), string(s, pos, end - pos));
         pos = s.find_first_not_of(separators, end);
     }
     return result;
 }
 
-template Strings tokenizeString(std::string_view s, const string & separators);
-template StringSet tokenizeString(std::string_view s, const string & separators);
-template vector<string> tokenizeString(std::string_view s, const string & separators);
+template Strings tokenizeString(std::string_view s, std::string_view separators);
+template StringSet tokenizeString(std::string_view s, std::string_view separators);
+template vector<string> tokenizeString(std::string_view s, std::string_view separators);
 
 
 string chomp(std::string_view s)
diff --git a/src/libutil/util.hh b/src/libutil/util.hh
index c900033f8..369c44f78 100644
--- a/src/libutil/util.hh
+++ b/src/libutil/util.hh
@@ -56,7 +56,7 @@ Path absPath(Path path,
    double or trailing slashes.  Optionally resolves all symlink
    components such that each component of the resulting path is *not*
    a symbolic link. */
-Path canonPath(const Path & path, bool resolveSymlinks = false);
+Path canonPath(PathView path, bool resolveSymlinks = false);
 
 /* Return the directory part of the given canonical path, i.e.,
    everything before the final `/'.  If the path is the root or an
@@ -368,15 +368,19 @@ MakeError(FormatError, Error);
 
 
 /* String tokenizer. */
-template<class C> C tokenizeString(std::string_view s, const string & separators = " \t\n\r");
+template<class C> C tokenizeString(std::string_view s, std::string_view separators = " \t\n\r");
 
 
 /* Concatenate the given strings with a separator between the
    elements. */
 template<class C>
-string concatStringsSep(const string & sep, const C & ss)
+string concatStringsSep(const std::string_view sep, const C & ss)
 {
+    size_t size = 0;
+    // need a cast to string_view since this is also called with Symbols
+    for (const auto & s : ss) size += sep.size() + std::string_view(s).size();
     string s;
+    s.reserve(size);
     for (auto & i : ss) {
         if (s.size() != 0) s += sep;
         s += i;
@@ -384,6 +388,14 @@ string concatStringsSep(const string & sep, const C & ss)
     return s;
 }
 
+template<class ... Parts>
+auto concatStrings(Parts && ... parts)
+    -> std::enable_if_t<(... && std::is_convertible_v<Parts, std::string_view>), string>
+{
+    std::string_view views[sizeof...(parts)] = { parts... };
+    return concatStringsSep({}, views);
+}
+
 
 /* Add quotes around a collection of strings. */
 template<class C> Strings quoteStrings(const C & c)