diff --git a/core/includes/utility.inc b/core/includes/utility.inc
index f651fd63126609ce89b7bf724898063d6332489e..cea75d224af3a39f4e33bff9180bdbd958fa676c 100644
--- a/core/includes/utility.inc
+++ b/core/includes/utility.inc
@@ -8,12 +8,12 @@
 /**
  * Drupal-friendly var_export().
  *
- * @param $var
+ * @param mixed $var
  *   The variable to export.
- * @param $prefix
+ * @param string $prefix
  *   A prefix that will be added at the beginning of every lines of the output.
  *
- * @return
+ * @return string
  *   The variable exported in a way compatible to Drupal's coding standards.
  */
 function drupal_var_export($var, $prefix = '') {
@@ -35,7 +35,6 @@ function drupal_var_export($var, $prefix = '') {
     $output = $var ? 'TRUE' : 'FALSE';
   }
   elseif (is_string($var)) {
-    $line_safe_var = str_replace("\n", '\n', $var);
     if (strpos($var, "\n") !== FALSE || strpos($var, "'") !== FALSE) {
       // If the string contains a line break or a single quote, use the
       // double quote export mode. Encode backslash and double quotes and