diff --git a/doc/src/Developer_utils.rst b/doc/src/Developer_utils.rst
index 68c89448cc..499df45bd6 100644
--- a/doc/src/Developer_utils.rst
+++ b/doc/src/Developer_utils.rst
@@ -19,7 +19,7 @@ In that case, the functions will stop with an error message, indicating
 the name of the problematic file, if possible unless the *error* argument
 is a NULL pointer.
 
-The :cpp:func:`fgets_trunc_nl` function will work similar for ``fgets()``
+The :cpp:func:`fgets_trunc` function will work similar for ``fgets()``
 but it will read in a whole line (i.e. until the end of line or end
 of file), but store only as many characters as will fit into the buffer
 including a final newline character and the terminating NULL byte.
@@ -41,7 +41,7 @@ NULL character.
 .. doxygenfunction:: sfread
    :project: progguide
 
-.. doxygenfunction:: fgets_trunc_nl
+.. doxygenfunction:: fgets_trunc
    :project: progguide
 
 .. doxygenfunction:: read_lines_from_file
diff --git a/src/read_data.cpp b/src/read_data.cpp
index 4af87a4383..5d0fe5f5c6 100644
--- a/src/read_data.cpp
+++ b/src/read_data.cpp
@@ -958,7 +958,7 @@ void ReadData::header(int firstpass)
   // skip 1st line of file
 
   if (me == 0) {
-    char *eof = utils::fgets_trunc_nl(line,MAXLINE,fp);
+    char *eof = utils::fgets_trunc(line,MAXLINE,fp);
     if (eof == nullptr) error->one(FLERR,"Unexpected end of data file");
   }
 
@@ -967,7 +967,7 @@ void ReadData::header(int firstpass)
     // read a line and bcast length
 
     if (me == 0) {
-      if (utils::fgets_trunc_nl(line,MAXLINE,fp) == nullptr) n = 0;
+      if (utils::fgets_trunc(line,MAXLINE,fp) == nullptr) n = 0;
       else n = strlen(line) + 1;
     }
     MPI_Bcast(&n,1,MPI_INT,0,world);
@@ -1670,7 +1670,7 @@ void ReadData::bodies(int firstpass, AtomVec *ptr)
       m = 0;
 
       while (nchunk < nmax && nline <= CHUNK-MAXBODY) {
-        eof = utils::fgets_trunc_nl(&buffer[m],MAXLINE,fp);
+        eof = utils::fgets_trunc(&buffer[m],MAXLINE,fp);
         if (eof == nullptr) error->one(FLERR,"Unexpected end of data file");
         rv = sscanf(&buffer[m],"%d %d %d",&tmp,&ninteger,&ndouble);
         if (rv != 3)
@@ -1684,7 +1684,7 @@ void ReadData::bodies(int firstpass, AtomVec *ptr)
 
         nword = 0;
         while (nword < ninteger) {
-          eof = utils::fgets_trunc_nl(&buffer[m],MAXLINE,fp);
+          eof = utils::fgets_trunc(&buffer[m],MAXLINE,fp);
           if (eof == nullptr) error->one(FLERR,"Unexpected end of data file");
           ncount = utils::trim_and_count_words(&buffer[m]);
           if (ncount == 0)
@@ -1698,7 +1698,7 @@ void ReadData::bodies(int firstpass, AtomVec *ptr)
 
         nword = 0;
         while (nword < ndouble) {
-          eof = utils::fgets_trunc_nl(&buffer[m],MAXLINE,fp);
+          eof = utils::fgets_trunc(&buffer[m],MAXLINE,fp);
           if (eof == nullptr) error->one(FLERR,"Unexpected end of data file");
           ncount = utils::trim_and_count_words(&buffer[m]);
           if (ncount == 0)
@@ -2002,15 +2002,15 @@ void ReadData::parse_keyword(int first)
 
   if (me == 0) {
     if (!first) {
-      if (utils::fgets_trunc_nl(line,MAXLINE,fp) == nullptr) eof = 1;
+      if (utils::fgets_trunc(line,MAXLINE,fp) == nullptr) eof = 1;
     }
     while (eof == 0 && done == 0) {
       int blank = strspn(line," \t\n\r");
       if ((blank == (int)strlen(line)) || (line[blank] == '#')) {
-        if (utils::fgets_trunc_nl(line,MAXLINE,fp) == nullptr) eof = 1;
+        if (utils::fgets_trunc(line,MAXLINE,fp) == nullptr) eof = 1;
       } else done = 1;
     }
-    if (utils::fgets_trunc_nl(buffer,MAXLINE,fp) == nullptr) {
+    if (utils::fgets_trunc(buffer,MAXLINE,fp) == nullptr) {
       eof = 1;
       buffer[0] = '\0';
     }
@@ -2064,7 +2064,7 @@ void ReadData::skip_lines(bigint n)
   if (me) return;
   if (n <= 0) return;
   char *eof = nullptr;
-  for (bigint i = 0; i < n; i++) eof = utils::fgets_trunc_nl(line,MAXLINE,fp);
+  for (bigint i = 0; i < n; i++) eof = utils::fgets_trunc(line,MAXLINE,fp);
   if (eof == nullptr) error->one(FLERR,"Unexpected end of data file");
 }
 
diff --git a/src/utils.cpp b/src/utils.cpp
index fe5904dc38..fbd00d1494 100644
--- a/src/utils.cpp
+++ b/src/utils.cpp
@@ -168,7 +168,7 @@ const char *utils::guesspath(char *buf, int len, FILE *fp)
 // read line into buffer. if line is too long keep reading until EOL or EOF
 // but return only the first part with a newline at the end.
 
-char *utils::fgets_trunc_nl(char *buf, int size, FILE *fp)
+char *utils::fgets_trunc(char *buf, int size, FILE *fp)
 {
   constexpr int MAXDUMMY = 256;
   char dummy[MAXDUMMY];
@@ -271,7 +271,7 @@ int utils::read_lines_from_file(FILE *fp, int nlines, int nmax,
   if (me == 0) {
     if (fp) {
       for (int i = 0; i < nlines; i++) {
-        ptr = fgets_trunc_nl(ptr,nmax,fp);
+        ptr = fgets_trunc(ptr,nmax,fp);
         if (!ptr) break; // EOF?
         // advance ptr to end of string
         ptr += strlen(ptr);
diff --git a/src/utils.h b/src/utils.h
index 752d1c06d0..d0a41fafb8 100644
--- a/src/utils.h
+++ b/src/utils.h
@@ -75,7 +75,7 @@ namespace LAMMPS_NS {
      *  \param size     size of buffer s (max number of bytes returned)
      *  \param fp       file pointer used by fgets() */
 
-    char *fgets_trunc_nl(char *s, int size, FILE *fp);
+    char *fgets_trunc(char *s, int size, FILE *fp);
 
     /** Safe wrapper around fgets() which aborts on errors
      *  or EOF and prints a suitable error message to help debugging.