diff --git a/src/Surface.zig b/src/Surface.zig
index 22853908a..97129b0e5 100644
--- a/src/Surface.zig
+++ b/src/Surface.zig
@@ -2254,6 +2254,39 @@ fn showMouse(self: *Surface) void {
     self.rt_surface.setMouseVisibility(true);
 }
 
+pub fn parseStringLiteral(out: []u8, bytes: []const u8) []u8 {
+    var offset: usize = 0;
+    var index: usize = 0;
+    while (true) {
+        if (index >= bytes.len or offset >= out.len) break;
+        const b = bytes[index];
+        switch (b) {
+            '\\' => {
+                const escape_char_index = index + 1;
+                const result = std.zig.string_literal.parseEscapeSequence(bytes, &index);
+                switch (result) {
+                    .success => |codepoint| {
+                        if (bytes[escape_char_index] == 'u') {
+                            const len = std.unicode.utf8Encode(codepoint, out[offset..]) catch break;
+                            offset += len;
+                        } else {
+                            out[offset] = @as(u8, @intCast(codepoint));
+                            offset += 1;
+                        }
+                    },
+                    .failure => break,
+                }
+            },
+            else => {
+                out[offset] = b;
+                offset += 1;
+                index += 1;
+            },
+        }
+    }
+    return out[0..offset];
+}
+
 /// Perform a binding action. A binding is a keybinding. This function
 /// must be called from the GUI thread.
 ///
@@ -2279,7 +2312,7 @@ pub fn performBindingAction(self: *Surface, action: input.Binding.Action) !bool
             const full_data = switch (action) {
                 .csi => try std.fmt.bufPrint(&buf, "\x1b[{s}", .{data}),
                 .esc => try std.fmt.bufPrint(&buf, "\x1b{s}", .{data}),
-                .text => data,
+                .text => parseStringLiteral(&buf, data),
                 else => unreachable,
             };
             _ = self.io_thread.mailbox.push(try termio.Message.writeReq(
diff --git a/src/input/Binding.zig b/src/input/Binding.zig
index 4b4ef03dd..37e93ae3c 100644
--- a/src/input/Binding.zig
+++ b/src/input/Binding.zig
@@ -321,47 +321,6 @@ pub const Action = union(enum) {
         };
     }
 
-    // Use Zig syntax to parse a string literal.
-    // Since the escaping syntax is verbose, we can do the parsing inplace.
-    pub fn parseStringLiteralInPlace(bytes: []const u8) []const u8 {
-        var out: [128]u8 = undefined;
-        var offset: usize = 0;
-        var index: usize = 0;
-        while (true) {
-            assert(offset <= index);
-            if (index >= bytes.len or offset >= out.len) break;
-            const b = bytes[index];
-            switch (b) {
-                '\\' => {
-                    const escape_char_index = index + 1;
-                    const result = std.zig.string_literal.parseEscapeSequence(bytes, &index);
-                    switch (result) {
-                        .success => |codepoint| {
-                            if (bytes[escape_char_index] == 'u') {
-                                const len = std.unicode.utf8Encode(codepoint, out[offset..]) catch break;
-                                offset += len;
-                            } else {
-                                out[offset] = @as(u8, @intCast(codepoint));
-                                offset += 1;
-                            }
-                        },
-                        .failure => break,
-                    }
-                },
-                else => {
-                    out[offset] = b;
-                    offset += 1;
-                    index += 1;
-                },
-            }
-        }
-        // No escaping => no copy needed.
-        if (offset == index and index == bytes.len) return bytes;
-        const mut_bytes: []u8 = @as([*]u8, @ptrFromInt(@intFromPtr(bytes.ptr)))[0..offset];
-        @memcpy(mut_bytes, out[0..offset]);
-        return mut_bytes;
-    }
-
     /// Parse an action in the format of "key=value" where key is the
     /// action name and value is the action parameter. The parameter
     /// is optional depending on the action.
@@ -387,10 +346,7 @@ pub const Action = union(enum) {
 
                     []const u8 => {
                         const idx = colonIdx orelse return Error.InvalidFormat;
-                        const param = if (std.mem.eql(u8, field.name, "text"))
-                            parseStringLiteralInPlace(input[idx + 1 ..])
-                        else
-                            input[idx + 1 ..];
+                        const param = input[idx + 1 ..];
                         return @unionInit(Action, field.name, param);
                     },
 
@@ -896,12 +852,6 @@ test "parse: action with string" {
         try testing.expect(binding.action == .esc);
         try testing.expectEqualStrings("A", binding.action.esc);
     }
-    // parameter
-    {
-        const binding = try parse("a=text:\\x03\\u{26a1}");
-        try testing.expect(binding.action == .text);
-        try testing.expectEqualStrings(binding.action.text, &[_]u8{ 3, 0xe2, 0x9a, 0xa1 });
-    }
 }
 
 test "parse: action with enum" {