diff --git a/dw/hyphenator.cc b/dw/hyphenator.cc
index 06d892d..e64b673 100644
--- a/dw/hyphenator.cc
+++ b/dw/hyphenator.cc
@@ -120,22 +120,15 @@ Hyphenator *Hyphenator::getHyphenator (const char *lang)
    if (hyphenator)
       delete langString;
    else {
-      int patFileLen = strlen (DILLO_LIBDIR) + 13 + strlen (lang) + 4 + 1;
-      char *patFile = new char[patFileLen];
-      snprintf (patFile, patFileLen, "%s/hyphenation/%s.pat",
-                DILLO_LIBDIR, lang);
-      int excFileLen = strlen (DILLO_LIBDIR) + 13 + strlen (lang) + 4 + 1;
-      char *excFile = new char[excFileLen];
-      snprintf (excFile, excFileLen, "%s/hyphenation/%s.exc",
-                DILLO_LIBDIR, lang);
+      using namespace std::literals::string_literals;
+      std::string patFile= DILLO_LIBDIR + "/hyphenation/"s + lang + ".pat";
+      std::string excFile= DILLO_LIBDIR + "/hyphenation"s + lang + ".exc";
 
       //printf ("Loading hyphenation patterns for language '%s' from '%s' and "
       //        "exceptions from '%s' ...\n", lang, patFile, excFile);
 
-      hyphenator = new Hyphenator (patFile, excFile);
+      hyphenator = new Hyphenator (patFile.c_str(), excFile.c_str());
       hyphenators->put (langString, hyphenator);
-      delete[] patFile;
-      delete[] excFile;
    }
 
    //lout::misc::StringBuffer sb;