diff --git a/stdlib/SparseArrays/src/higherorderfns.jl b/stdlib/SparseArrays/src/higherorderfns.jl
index 029f4abd1fcf7..2f303a6659b68 100644
--- a/stdlib/SparseArrays/src/higherorderfns.jl
+++ b/stdlib/SparseArrays/src/higherorderfns.jl
@@ -2,11 +2,6 @@
 
 module HigherOrderFns
 
-_goodbuffers(n, colptr, rowval, nzval) = length(colptr) == n + 1 && colptr[end] - 1 == length(rowval) == length(nzval)
-_goodbuffers(S::SparseMatrixCSC) = _goodbuffers(S.n, S.colptr, S.rowval, S.nzval)
-_checkbuffers(S::SparseMatrixCSC) = (@assert _goodbuffers(S); S)
-_checkbuffers(S::SparseVector) = (@assert length(S.nzval) == length(S.nzind); S)
-
 # This module provides higher order functions specialized for sparse arrays,
 # particularly map[!]/broadcast[!] for SparseVectors and SparseMatrixCSCs at present.
 import Base: map, map!, broadcast, copy, copyto!
@@ -152,6 +147,9 @@ function _reset!(C::SparseMatrixCSC)
     empty!(C.nzval)
 end
 
+_checkbuffers(S::SparseMatrixCSC) = (@assert length(colptr) == n + 1 && colptr[end] - 1 == length(rowval) == length(nzval); S)
+_checkbuffers(S::SparseVector) = (@assert length(S.nzval) == length(S.nzind); S)
+
 _capacity(A::SparseVecOrMat) = capacity(storedinds(A))
 
 # (2) map[!] entry points