diff --git a/src/internal.h b/src/internal.h
index 25df0560af4caeb23e589f3965eb1073ba891c83..722cdbc57c1b109b293242ab7d42a1d1f579ba6a 100644
--- a/src/internal.h
+++ b/src/internal.h
@@ -225,21 +225,6 @@
         (b) = NULL; \
     } while (0)
 
-/**
- * VIR_RETURN_PTR:
- * @ret: pointer to return
- *
- * Returns value of @ret while clearing @ret. This ensures that pointers
- * freed by using VIR_AUTOPTR can be easily passed back to the caller without
- * any temporary variable. @ptr is evaluated more than once.
- */
-#define VIR_RETURN_PTR(ptr) \
-    do { \
-        typeof(ptr) virTemporaryReturnPointer = (ptr); \
-        (ptr) = NULL; \
-        return virTemporaryReturnPointer; \
-    } while (0)
-
 /**
  * virCheckFlags:
  * @supported: an OR'ed set of supported flags