diff --git a/common/common.cpp b/common/common.cpp
index 59e8296604c9c8..2065399672805c 100644
--- a/common/common.cpp
+++ b/common/common.cpp
@@ -1860,14 +1860,19 @@ std::string string_get_sortable_timestamp() {
 }
 
 void string_replace_all(std::string & s, const std::string & search, const std::string & replace) {
-    if (search.empty()) {
-        return; // Avoid infinite loop if 'search' is an empty string
-    }
+    if (search.empty())
+        return;
+    std::string builder;
+    builder.reserve(s.length());
     size_t pos = 0;
-    while ((pos = s.find(search, pos)) != std::string::npos) {
-        s.replace(pos, search.length(), replace);
-        pos += replace.length();
-    }
+    size_t last_pos = 0;
+    while ((pos = s.find(search, last_pos)) != std::string::npos) {
+        builder.append(s, last_pos, pos - last_pos);
+        builder.append(replace);
+        last_pos = pos + search.length();
+    }
+    builder.append(s, last_pos, std::string::npos);
+    s = std::move(builder);
 }
 
 void string_process_escapes(std::string & input) {
diff --git a/examples/llava/clip.cpp b/examples/llava/clip.cpp
index 7e9fa320aec44b..8f1d9c0004d7a4 100644
--- a/examples/llava/clip.cpp
+++ b/examples/llava/clip.cpp
@@ -215,14 +215,19 @@ static std::string gguf_data_to_str(enum gguf_type type, const void * data, int
 }
 
 static void replace_all(std::string & s, const std::string & search, const std::string & replace) {
-    if (search.empty()) {
-        return; // Avoid infinite loop if 'search' is an empty string
-    }
+    if (search.empty())
+        return;
+    std::string builder;
+    builder.reserve(s.length());
     size_t pos = 0;
-    while ((pos = s.find(search, pos)) != std::string::npos) {
-        s.replace(pos, search.length(), replace);
-        pos += replace.length();
-    }
+    size_t last_pos = 0;
+    while ((pos = s.find(search, last_pos)) != std::string::npos) {
+        builder.append(s, last_pos, pos - last_pos);
+        builder.append(replace);
+        last_pos = pos + search.length();
+    }
+    builder.append(s, last_pos, std::string::npos);
+    s = std::move(builder);
 }
 
 static std::string gguf_kv_to_str(const struct gguf_context * ctx_gguf, int i) {
diff --git a/src/llama-impl.h b/src/llama-impl.h
index 399b134a7f9bc6..a9463bea0a4c66 100644
--- a/src/llama-impl.h
+++ b/src/llama-impl.h
@@ -30,12 +30,17 @@ void llama_log_callback_default(ggml_log_level level, const char * text, void *
 //
 
 static void replace_all(std::string & s, const std::string & search, const std::string & replace) {
-    if (search.empty()) {
-        return; // Avoid infinite loop if 'search' is an empty string
-    }
+    if (search.empty())
+        return;
+    std::string builder;
+    builder.reserve(s.length());
     size_t pos = 0;
-    while ((pos = s.find(search, pos)) != std::string::npos) {
-        s.replace(pos, search.length(), replace);
-        pos += replace.length();
+    size_t last_pos = 0;
+    while ((pos = s.find(search, last_pos)) != std::string::npos) {
+        builder.append(s, last_pos, pos - last_pos);
+        builder.append(replace);
+        last_pos = pos + search.length();
     }
+    builder.append(s, last_pos, std::string::npos);
+    s = std::move(builder);
 }