diff --git a/button.c b/button.c
index 5a5c545b..b2dd5c97 100644
--- a/button.c
+++ b/button.c
@@ -83,8 +83,7 @@ luaA_button_new(lua_State *L)
     button->press = press;
     button->release = release;
     button->button = xbutton;
-
-    luaA_setmodifiers(L, 2, &button->mod);
+    button->mod = luaA_tomodifiers(L, 2);
 
     return 1;
 }
@@ -196,7 +195,8 @@ luaA_button_newindex(lua_State *L)
         button->button = luaL_checknumber(L, 3);
         break;
       case A_TK_MODIFIERS:
-        luaA_setmodifiers(L, 3, &button->mod);
+        button->mod = luaA_tomodifiers(L, 3);
+        break;
       default:
         break;
     }
diff --git a/key.c b/key.c
index 6eb46396..8b84a139 100644
--- a/key.c
+++ b/key.c
@@ -1046,7 +1046,7 @@ luaA_key_new(lua_State *L)
     k->press = press;
     k->release = release;
 
-    luaA_setmodifiers(L, 2, &k->mod);
+    k->mod = luaA_tomodifiers(L, 2);
 
     return 1;
 }
@@ -1110,24 +1110,26 @@ luaA_pushmodifiers(lua_State *L, uint16_t modifiers)
     return 1;
 }
 
-/** Take a modifier table from the stack and set modifiers in mod.
+/** Take a modifier table from the stack and return modifiers mask.
  * \param L The Lua VM state.
  * \param ud The index of the table.
- * \param mod Where to set the modifiers.
+ * \return The mask value.
  */
-void
-luaA_setmodifiers(lua_State *L, int ud, uint16_t *mod)
+uint16_t
+luaA_tomodifiers(lua_State *L, int ud)
 {
     luaA_checktable(L, ud);
     ssize_t len = lua_objlen(L, ud);
+    uint16_t mod = XCB_NONE;
     for(int i = 1; i <= len; i++)
     {
         lua_rawgeti(L, ud, i);
         size_t blen;
         const char *key = luaL_checklstring(L, -1, &blen);
-        *mod |= xutil_key_mask_fromstr(key, blen);
+        mod |= xutil_key_mask_fromstr(key, blen);
         lua_pop(L, 1);
     }
+    return mod;
 }
 
 /** Key object.
@@ -1213,7 +1215,7 @@ luaA_key_newindex(lua_State *L)
         }
         break;
       case A_TK_MODIFIERS:
-        luaA_setmodifiers(L, 3, &k->mod);
+        k->mod = luaA_tomodifiers(L, 3);
         break;
       case A_TK_PRESS:
         luaA_registerfct(L, 3, &k->press);
diff --git a/key.h b/key.h
index 010ae462..f5d987d0 100644
--- a/key.h
+++ b/key.h
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 /*
  * key.h - Keybinding helpers
  *
- * Copyright © 2008 Pierre Habouzit <madcoder@debian.org>
+ * Copyright © 2009 Julien Danjou <julien@danjou.info>
  *
  * This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify
  * it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
@@ -49,6 +49,6 @@ int luaA_key_array_get(lua_State *, key_array_t *);
 
 void window_grabkeys(xcb_window_t, key_array_t *);
 int luaA_pushmodifiers(lua_State *, uint16_t);
-void luaA_setmodifiers(lua_State *, int, uint16_t *);
+uint16_t luaA_tomodifiers(lua_State *L, int ud);
 
 #endif