diff --git a/buffer.c b/buffer.c
index e9285fe4f..67da2e051 100644
--- a/buffer.c
+++ b/buffer.c
@@ -10,10 +10,6 @@
 #define BUFFER_SIZE 1024
 #endif
 
-void buffer_init(Buffer *buf) {
-	memset(buf, 0, sizeof *buf);
-}
-
 bool buffer_reserve(Buffer *buf, size_t size) {
 	/* ensure minimal buffer size, to avoid repeated realloc(3) calls */
 	if (size < BUFFER_SIZE)
@@ -45,7 +41,7 @@ void buffer_release(Buffer *buf) {
 	if (!buf)
 		return;
 	free(buf->data);
-	buffer_init(buf);
+	*buf = (Buffer){0};
 }
 
 void buffer_clear(Buffer *buf) {
@@ -179,7 +175,7 @@ const char *buffer_content0(Buffer *buf) {
 
 char *buffer_move(Buffer *buf) {
 	char *data = buf->data;
-	buffer_init(buf);
+	*buf = (Buffer){0};
 	return data;
 }
 
diff --git a/buffer.h b/buffer.h
index d9e2b8566..a155163ea 100644
--- a/buffer.h
+++ b/buffer.h
@@ -20,8 +20,6 @@ typedef struct {
 	size_t size;   /**< Maximal capacity of the buffer. */
 } Buffer;
 
-/** Initialize a Buffer object. */
-void buffer_init(Buffer*);
 /** Release all resources, reinitialize buffer. */
 void buffer_release(Buffer*);
 /** Set buffer length to zero, keep allocated memory. */
diff --git a/main.c b/main.c
index 3e9d9ab8b..2989dd452 100644
--- a/main.c
+++ b/main.c
@@ -2154,9 +2154,8 @@ static const char *unicode_info(Vis *vis, const char *keys, const Arg *arg) {
 	char *grapheme = text_bytes_alloc0(txt, start, end-start), *codepoint = grapheme;
 	if (!grapheme)
 		return keys;
-	Buffer info;
-	buffer_init(&info);
-	mbstate_t ps = { 0 };
+	Buffer info = {0};
+	mbstate_t ps = {0};
 	Iterator it = text_iterator_get(txt, start);
 	for (size_t pos = start; it.pos < end; pos = it.pos) {
 		if (!text_iterator_codepoint_next(&it, NULL)) {
diff --git a/sam.c b/sam.c
index e5aead3b0..1380971f5 100644
--- a/sam.c
+++ b/sam.c
@@ -559,8 +559,7 @@ static void skip_spaces(const char **s) {
 }
 
 static char *parse_until(const char **s, const char *until, const char *escchars, int type){
-	Buffer buf;
-	buffer_init(&buf);
+	Buffer buf = {0};
 	size_t len = strlen(until);
 	bool escaped = false;
 
@@ -633,8 +632,7 @@ static char *parse_text(const char **s, Count *count) {
 		return (!text && *s != before) ? strdup("") : text;
 	}
 
-	Buffer buf;
-	buffer_init(&buf);
+	Buffer buf = {0};
 	const char *start = *s + 1;
 	bool dot = false;
 
@@ -677,8 +675,7 @@ static bool valid_cmdname(const char *s) {
 }
 
 static char *parse_cmdname(const char **s) {
-	Buffer buf;
-	buffer_init(&buf);
+	Buffer buf = {0};
 
 	skip_spaces(s);
 	while (valid_cmdname(*s))
@@ -1313,8 +1310,7 @@ enum SamError sam_cmd(Vis *vis, const char *s) {
 
 /* process text input, substitute register content for backreferences etc. */
 Buffer text(Vis *vis, const char *text) {
-	Buffer buf;
-	buffer_init(&buf);
+	Buffer buf = {0};
 	for (size_t len = strcspn(text, "\\&"); *text; len = strcspn(++text, "\\&")) {
 		buffer_append(&buf, text, len);
 		text += len;
@@ -1747,9 +1743,7 @@ static bool cmd_filter(Vis *vis, Win *win, Command *cmd, const char *argv[], Sel
 	if (!win)
 		return false;
 
-	Buffer bufout, buferr;
-	buffer_init(&bufout);
-	buffer_init(&buferr);
+	Buffer bufout = {0}, buferr = {0};
 
 	int status = vis_pipe(vis, win->file, range, &argv[1], &bufout, read_into_buffer, &buferr,
 	                      read_into_buffer, false);
@@ -1789,8 +1783,7 @@ static bool cmd_pipein(Vis *vis, Win *win, Command *cmd, const char *argv[], Sel
 static bool cmd_pipeout(Vis *vis, Win *win, Command *cmd, const char *argv[], Selection *sel, Filerange *range) {
 	if (!win)
 		return false;
-	Buffer buferr;
-	buffer_init(&buferr);
+	Buffer buferr = {0};
 
 	int status = vis_pipe(vis, win->file, range, (const char*[]){ argv[1], NULL }, NULL, NULL,
 	                      &buferr, read_into_buffer, false);
diff --git a/test/core/buffer-test.c b/test/core/buffer-test.c
index dfdb466d3..a102b0188 100644
--- a/test/core/buffer-test.c
+++ b/test/core/buffer-test.c
@@ -15,11 +15,10 @@ static bool compare0(Buffer *buf, const char *data) {
 }
 
 int main(int argc, char *argv[]) {
-	Buffer buf;
+	Buffer buf = {0};
 
 	plan_no_plan();
 
-	buffer_init(&buf);
 	ok(buffer_content(&buf) == NULL && buffer_length(&buf) == 0 && buffer_capacity(&buf) == 0, "Initialization");
 	ok(buffer_insert(&buf, 0, "foo", 0) && buffer_content(&buf) == NULL &&
 	   buffer_length(&buf) == 0 && buffer_capacity(&buf) == 0, "Insert zero length data");
diff --git a/test/fuzz/buffer-fuzzer.c b/test/fuzz/buffer-fuzzer.c
index fea3ec832..9ecb405ef 100644
--- a/test/fuzz/buffer-fuzzer.c
+++ b/test/fuzz/buffer-fuzzer.c
@@ -78,8 +78,7 @@ static Cmd commands[] = {
 
 int main(int argc, char *argv[]) {
 	char line[BUFSIZ];
-	Buffer buf;
-	buffer_init(&buf);
+	Buffer buf = {0};
 
 	for (;;) {
 		printf("> ");
diff --git a/ui-terminal-vt100.c b/ui-terminal-vt100.c
index 3c63c110f..3c06bff65 100644
--- a/ui-terminal-vt100.c
+++ b/ui-terminal-vt100.c
@@ -196,7 +196,6 @@ static bool ui_backend_init(Ui *ui) {
 	Buffer *buf = calloc(1, sizeof(Buffer));
 	if (!buf)
 		return false;
-	buffer_init(buf);
 	ui->ctx = buf;
 	return true;
 }
diff --git a/vis-cmds.c b/vis-cmds.c
index b195013ac..892f5a582 100644
--- a/vis-cmds.c
+++ b/vis-cmds.c
@@ -402,10 +402,7 @@ static const char *file_open_dialog(Vis *vis, const char *pattern) {
 	if (!is_file_pattern(pattern))
 		return pattern;
 
-	Buffer bufcmd, bufout, buferr;
-	buffer_init(&bufcmd);
-	buffer_init(&bufout);
-	buffer_init(&buferr);
+	Buffer bufcmd = {0}, bufout = {0}, buferr = {0};
 
 	if (!buffer_put0(&bufcmd, VIS_OPEN " ") || !buffer_append0(&bufcmd, pattern ? pattern : ""))
 		return NULL;
diff --git a/vis-core.h b/vis-core.h
index 182c53732..cb24624fc 100644
--- a/vis-core.h
+++ b/vis-core.h
@@ -108,7 +108,6 @@ typedef struct {
 
 /* a macro is just a sequence of symbolic keys as received from ui->getkey */
 typedef Buffer Macro;
-#define macro_init buffer_init
 #define macro_release buffer_release
 #define macro_reset buffer_clear
 #define macro_append buffer_append0
diff --git a/vis-registers.c b/vis-registers.c
index caecbd308..8b12119b8 100644
--- a/vis-registers.c
+++ b/vis-registers.c
@@ -9,8 +9,7 @@ static Buffer *register_buffer(Register *reg, size_t slot) {
 		return buf;
 	if (array_resize(&reg->values, slot) && (buf = array_get(&reg->values, slot)))
 		return buf;
-	Buffer new;
-	buffer_init(&new);
+	Buffer new = {0};
 	if (!array_add(&reg->values, &new))
 		return NULL;
 	size_t capacity = array_capacity(&reg->values);
@@ -22,8 +21,7 @@ static Buffer *register_buffer(Register *reg, size_t slot) {
 }
 
 bool register_init(Register *reg) {
-	Buffer buf;
-	buffer_init(&buf);
+	Buffer buf = {0};
 	array_init_sized(&reg->values, sizeof(Buffer));
 	return array_add(&reg->values, &buf);
 }
@@ -63,10 +61,9 @@ const char *register_slot_get(Vis *vis, Register *reg, size_t slot, size_t *len)
 	}
 	case REGISTER_CLIPBOARD:
 	{
-		Buffer buferr;
+		Buffer buferr = {0};
 		enum VisRegister id = reg - vis->registers;
 		const char *cmd[] = { VIS_CLIPBOARD, "--paste", "--selection", NULL, NULL };
-		buffer_init(&buferr);
 		Buffer *buf = array_get(&reg->values, slot);
 		if (!buf)
 			return NULL;
@@ -151,10 +148,9 @@ bool register_slot_put_range(Vis *vis, Register *reg, size_t slot, Text *txt, Fi
 	}
 	case REGISTER_CLIPBOARD:
 	{
-		Buffer buferr;
+		Buffer buferr = {0};
 		const char *cmd[] = { VIS_CLIPBOARD, "--copy", "--selection", NULL, NULL };
 		enum VisRegister id = reg - vis->registers;
-		buffer_init(&buferr);
 
 		if (id == VIS_REG_PRIMARY)
 			cmd[3] = "primary";
diff --git a/vis.c b/vis.c
index 0322746f9..0f2e32564 100644
--- a/vis.c
+++ b/vis.c
@@ -587,7 +587,7 @@ Vis *vis_new(void) {
 	array_init(&vis->bindings);
 	array_init(&vis->actions_user);
 	action_reset(&vis->action);
-	buffer_init(&vis->input_queue);
+	vis->input_queue = (Buffer){0};
 	if (!(vis->command_file = file_new_internal(vis, NULL)))
 		goto err;
 	if (!(vis->search_file = file_new_internal(vis, NULL)))
@@ -1167,8 +1167,7 @@ static void vis_keys_process(Vis *vis, size_t pos) {
 void vis_keys_feed(Vis *vis, const char *input) {
 	if (!input)
 		return;
-	Macro macro;
-	macro_init(&macro);
+	Macro macro = {0};
 	if (!macro_append(&macro, input))
 		return;
 	/* use internal function, to keep Lua based tests which use undo points working */
@@ -1855,9 +1854,7 @@ int vis_pipe_buf(Vis *vis, const char* buf, const char *argv[],
 }
 
 static int _vis_pipe_collect(Vis *vis, File *file, Filerange *range, const char* buf, const char *argv[], char **out, char **err, bool fullscreen) {
-	Buffer bufout, buferr;
-	buffer_init(&bufout);
-	buffer_init(&buferr);
+	Buffer bufout = {0}, buferr = {0};
 	int status = _vis_pipe(vis, file, range, buf, argv,
 	                      &bufout, out ? read_into_buffer : NULL,
 	                      &buferr, err ? read_into_buffer : NULL,