diff --git a/mercurial/cmdutil.py b/mercurial/cmdutil.py
--- a/mercurial/cmdutil.py
+++ b/mercurial/cmdutil.py
@@ -2415,11 +2415,7 @@ def files(ui, ctx, m, fm, fmt, subrepos)
         ret = 0
 
     for subpath in sorted(ctx.substate):
-        def matchessubrepo(subpath):
-            return (m.exact(subpath)
-                    or any(f.startswith(subpath + '/') for f in m.files()))
-
-        if subrepos or matchessubrepo(subpath):
+        if subrepos or m.matchessubrepo(subpath):
             sub = ctx.sub(subpath)
             try:
                 submatch = matchmod.subdirmatcher(subpath, m)
@@ -2450,16 +2446,8 @@ def remove(ui, repo, m, prefix, after, f
     total = len(subs)
     count = 0
     for subpath in subs:
-        def matchessubrepo(matcher, subpath):
-            if matcher.exact(subpath):
-                return True
-            for f in matcher.files():
-                if f.startswith(subpath):
-                    return True
-            return False
-
         count += 1
-        if subrepos or matchessubrepo(m, subpath):
+        if subrepos or m.matchessubrepo(subpath):
             ui.progress(_('searching'), count, total=total, unit=_('subrepos'))
 
             sub = wctx.sub(subpath)
diff --git a/mercurial/match.py b/mercurial/match.py
--- a/mercurial/match.py
+++ b/mercurial/match.py
@@ -320,6 +320,10 @@ class match(object):
             kindpats.append((kind, pat, ''))
         return kindpats
 
+    def matchessubrepo(self, subpath):
+        return (self.exact(subpath)
+                or any(f.startswith(subpath + '/') for f in self.files()))
+
 def exact(root, cwd, files, badfn=None):
     return match(root, cwd, files, exact=True, badfn=badfn)
 
diff --git a/mercurial/scmutil.py b/mercurial/scmutil.py
--- a/mercurial/scmutil.py
+++ b/mercurial/scmutil.py
@@ -948,17 +948,9 @@ def addremove(repo, matcher, prefix, opt
     ret = 0
     join = lambda f: os.path.join(prefix, f)
 
-    def matchessubrepo(matcher, subpath):
-        if matcher.exact(subpath):
-            return True
-        for f in matcher.files():
-            if f.startswith(subpath):
-                return True
-        return False
-
     wctx = repo[None]
     for subpath in sorted(wctx.substate):
-        if opts.get('subrepos') or matchessubrepo(m, subpath):
+        if opts.get('subrepos') or m.matchessubrepo(subpath):
             sub = wctx.sub(subpath)
             try:
                 submatch = matchmod.subdirmatcher(subpath, m)