diff --git a/libselinux/src/regex.c b/libselinux/src/regex.c
index 56694d1ee..69d40044c 100644
--- a/libselinux/src/regex.c
+++ b/libselinux/src/regex.c
@@ -29,6 +29,12 @@
 
 #endif
 
+/**
+ * This constructor function allocates a buffer for a regex_data structure.
+ * The buffer is being initialized with zeroes.
+ */
+static struct regex_data *regex_data_create(void);
+
 #ifdef USE_PCRE2
 char const *regex_arch_string(void)
 {
@@ -283,7 +289,7 @@ int regex_cmp(const struct regex_data *regex1, const struct regex_data *regex2)
 	return SELABEL_EQUAL;
 }
 
-struct regex_data *regex_data_create(void)
+static struct regex_data *regex_data_create(void)
 {
 	struct regex_data *regex_data =
 		(struct regex_data *)calloc(1, sizeof(struct regex_data));
@@ -524,7 +530,7 @@ int regex_cmp(const struct regex_data *regex1, const struct regex_data *regex2)
 	return SELABEL_EQUAL;
 }
 
-struct regex_data *regex_data_create(void)
+static struct regex_data *regex_data_create(void)
 {
 	return (struct regex_data *)calloc(1, sizeof(struct regex_data));
 }
diff --git a/libselinux/src/regex.h b/libselinux/src/regex.h
index d449b1e70..0bff344de 100644
--- a/libselinux/src/regex.h
+++ b/libselinux/src/regex.h
@@ -55,11 +55,6 @@ char const *regex_arch_string(void) ;
  * It may return NULL on error.
  */
 char const *regex_version(void) ;
-/**
- * This constructor function allocates a buffer for a regex_data structure.
- * The buffer is being initialized with zeroes.
- */
-struct regex_data *regex_data_create(void) ;
 /**
  * This complementary destructor function frees the a given regex_data buffer.
  * It also frees any non NULL member pointers with the appropriate pcreX_X_free