diff --git a/access.lua b/access.lua
index 95e0ee9..c24ae09 100644
--- a/access.lua
+++ b/access.lua
@@ -22,9 +22,6 @@ local conf = config.get_config()
 -- Import helpers
 local hlp = require "helpers"
 
--- Import Perl regular expressions library
-local rex = require "rex_pcre"
-
 -- Load logging module
 local logger = require("log")
 
@@ -208,17 +205,6 @@ end
 -- If the URL matches one of the `redirected_urls` in the configuration file,
 -- just redirect to the target URL/URI
 --
--- The 'match' function uses PCRE regex as default
--- If '%.' is found in the regex, we assume it's a LUA regex (legacy code)
--- 'match' returns the matched text.
-function match(s, regex)
-    if not string.find(regex, '%%%.') then
-        return rex.match(s, regex)
-    else
-        return string.match(s,regex)
-    end
-end
-
 function detect_redirection(redirect_url)
     if hlp.string.starts(redirect_url, "http://")
     or hlp.string.starts(redirect_url, "https://") then
@@ -243,9 +229,9 @@ end
 
 if conf["redirected_regex"] then
     for regex, redirect_url in pairs(conf["redirected_regex"]) do
-        if match(ngx.var.host..ngx.var.uri..hlp.uri_args_string(), regex)
-        or match(ngx.var.scheme.."://"..ngx.var.host..ngx.var.uri..hlp.uri_args_string(), regex)
-        or match(ngx.var.uri..hlp.uri_args_string(), regex) then
+        if hlp.match(ngx.var.host..ngx.var.uri..hlp.uri_args_string(), regex)
+        or hlp.match(ngx.var.scheme.."://"..ngx.var.host..ngx.var.uri..hlp.uri_args_string(), regex)
+        or hlp.match(ngx.var.uri..hlp.uri_args_string(), regex) then
             logger.debug("Requested URI is in redirected_regex")
             detect_redirection(redirect_url)
         end
@@ -274,8 +260,8 @@ end
 
 if conf["skipped_regex"] then
     for _, regex in ipairs(conf["skipped_regex"]) do
-        if (match(ngx.var.host..ngx.var.uri..hlp.uri_args_string(), regex)
-        or  match(ngx.var.uri..hlp.uri_args_string(), regex))
+        if (hlp.match(ngx.var.host..ngx.var.uri..hlp.uri_args_string(), regex)
+        or  hlp.match(ngx.var.uri..hlp.uri_args_string(), regex))
         then
             logger.debug("Skipping "..ngx.var.uri)
             return hlp.pass()
@@ -308,8 +294,8 @@ function is_protected()
         end
     end
     for _, regex in ipairs(conf["protected_regex"]) do
-        if match(ngx.var.host..ngx.var.uri..hlp.uri_args_string(), regex)
-        or match(ngx.var.uri..hlp.uri_args_string(), regex) then
+        if hlp.match(ngx.var.host..ngx.var.uri..hlp.uri_args_string(), regex)
+        or hlp.match(ngx.var.uri..hlp.uri_args_string(), regex) then
             logger.debug(ngx.var.uri.." is in protected_regex")
             return true
         end
@@ -399,8 +385,8 @@ end
 
 if conf["unprotected_regex"] then
     for _, regex in ipairs(conf["unprotected_regex"]) do
-        if (match(ngx.var.host..ngx.var.uri..hlp.uri_args_string(), regex)
-        or  match(ngx.var.uri..hlp.uri_args_string(), regex))
+        if (hlp.match(ngx.var.host..ngx.var.uri..hlp.uri_args_string(), regex)
+        or  hlp.match(ngx.var.uri..hlp.uri_args_string(), regex))
         and not is_protected() then
             if hlp.is_logged_in() then
                 hlp.set_headers()
diff --git a/helpers.lua b/helpers.lua
index eed2311..fd45715 100644
--- a/helpers.lua
+++ b/helpers.lua
@@ -14,6 +14,20 @@ local logger = require("log")
 -- url parser, c.f. https://rosettacode.org/wiki/URL_parser#Lua
 local url_parser = require "socket.url"
 
+-- Import Perl regular expressions library
+local rex = require "rex_pcre"
+
+
+-- The 'match' function uses PCRE regex as default
+-- If '%.' is found in the regex, we assume it's a LUA regex (legacy code)
+-- 'match' returns the matched text.
+function match(s, regex)
+    if not string.find(regex, '%%%.') then
+        return rex.match(s, regex)
+    else
+        return string.match(s,regex)
+    end
+end
 
 -- Read a FS stored file
 function read_file(file)