diff --git a/base/strings/basic.jl b/base/strings/basic.jl
index caa60795b8c0c..167bef7bcbd44 100644
--- a/base/strings/basic.jl
+++ b/base/strings/basic.jl
@@ -101,8 +101,6 @@ function length(s::AbstractString)
     end
 end
 
-transpose(s::AbstractString) = s
-
 ## string comparison functions ##
 
 function cmp(a::AbstractString, b::AbstractString)
diff --git a/test/datafmt.jl b/test/datafmt.jl
index 7116a2af614dc..4b97da3a32ef3 100644
--- a/test/datafmt.jl
+++ b/test/datafmt.jl
@@ -210,7 +210,7 @@ let i18n_data = ["Origin (English)", "Name (English)", "Origin (Native)", "Name
         "Yugoslavia (Cyrillic)", "Djordje Balasevic", "Југославија", "Ђорђе Балашевић",
         "Yugoslavia (Latin)", "Djordje Balasevic", "Jugoslavija", "Đorđe Balašević"]
 
-    i18n_arr = transpose(reshape(i18n_data, 4, Int(floor(length(i18n_data)/4))))
+    i18n_arr = permutedims(reshape(i18n_data, 4, Int(floor(length(i18n_data)/4))), [2, 1])
     i18n_buff = PipeBuffer()
     writedlm(i18n_buff, i18n_arr, ',')
     @test i18n_arr == readcsv(i18n_buff)
diff --git a/test/strings/basic.jl b/test/strings/basic.jl
index f8a63850a0253..183ec1ea74933 100644
--- a/test/strings/basic.jl
+++ b/test/strings/basic.jl
@@ -464,7 +464,7 @@ foobaz(ch) = reinterpret(Char, typemax(UInt32))
 
 @test "a".*["b","c"] == ["ab","ac"]
 @test ["b","c"].*"a" == ["ba","ca"]
-@test ["a","b"].*["c","d"]' == ["ac" "ad"; "bc" "bd"]
+@test ["a","b"].*["c" "d"] == ["ac" "ad"; "bc" "bd"]
 
 # Make sure NULL pointers are handled consistently by String
 @test_throws ArgumentError unsafe_string(Ptr{UInt8}(0))