diff --git a/builtin/update-ref.c b/builtin/update-ref.c
index 2d68c40ecb..5259cc7226 100644
--- a/builtin/update-ref.c
+++ b/builtin/update-ref.c
@@ -234,6 +234,28 @@ static int parse_next_oid(const char **next, const char *end,
 	    command, refname);
 }
 
+static void print_rejected_refs(const char *refname,
+				const struct object_id *old_oid,
+				const struct object_id *new_oid,
+				const char *old_target,
+				const char *new_target,
+				enum ref_transaction_error err,
+				const char *details,
+				void *cb_data UNUSED)
+{
+	struct strbuf sb = STRBUF_INIT;
+
+	if (details && *details)
+		error("%s", details);
+
+	strbuf_addf(&sb, "rejected %s %s %s %s\n", refname,
+		    new_oid ? oid_to_hex(new_oid) : new_target,
+		    old_oid ? oid_to_hex(old_oid) : old_target,
+		    ref_transaction_error_msg(err));
+
+	fwrite(sb.buf, sb.len, 1, stdout);
+	strbuf_release(&sb);
+}
 
 /*
  * The following five parse_cmd_*() functions parse the corresponding
@@ -567,29 +589,6 @@ static void parse_cmd_abort(struct ref_transaction *transaction,
 	report_ok("abort");
 }
 
-static void print_rejected_refs(const char *refname,
-				const struct object_id *old_oid,
-				const struct object_id *new_oid,
-				const char *old_target,
-				const char *new_target,
-				enum ref_transaction_error err,
-				const char *details,
-				void *cb_data UNUSED)
-{
-	struct strbuf sb = STRBUF_INIT;
-
-	if (details && *details)
-		error("%s", details);
-
-	strbuf_addf(&sb, "rejected %s %s %s %s\n", refname,
-		    new_oid ? oid_to_hex(new_oid) : new_target,
-		    old_oid ? oid_to_hex(old_oid) : old_target,
-		    ref_transaction_error_msg(err));
-
-	fwrite(sb.buf, sb.len, 1, stdout);
-	strbuf_release(&sb);
-}
-
 static void parse_cmd_commit(struct ref_transaction *transaction,
 			     const char *next, const char *end UNUSED)
 {