Why does this declaration exist inside std.range.put?

[Steven Schveighoffer via Digitalmars-d-learn]

On 11/6/14 4:19 PM, Meta wrote:
> This is the code for std.range.put:
>
> void put(R, E)(ref R r, E e)
> {
>      //Why?
>      @property ref E[] EArrayInit(); //@@@9186@@@: Can't use (E[]).init
>
>      //First level: simply straight up put.
>      static if (is(typeof(doPut(r, e))))
>      {
>          doPut(r, e);
>      }
>      //Optional optimization block for straight up array to array copy.
>      else static if (isDynamicArray!R && !isNarrowString!R &&
> isDynamicArray!E && is(typeof(r[] = e[])))
>      {
>          immutable len = e.length;
>          r[0 .. len] = e[];
>          r = r[len .. $];
>      }
>      //Accepts E[] ?
>      else static if (is(typeof(doPut(r, [e]))) && !isDynamicArray!R)
>      {
>          if (__ctfe)
>              doPut(r, [e]);
>          else
>              doPut(r, (&e)[0..1]);
>      }
>      //special case for char to string.
>      else static if (isSomeChar!E && is(typeof(putChar(r, e))))
>      {
>          putChar(r, e);
>      }
>      //Extract each element from the range
>      //We can use "put" here, so we can recursively test a RoR of E.
>      else static if (isInputRange!E && is(typeof(put(r, e.front))))
>      {
>          //Special optimization: If E is a narrow string, and r accepts
> characters no-wider than the string's
>          //Then simply feed the characters 1 by 1.
>          static if (isNarrowString!E && (
>              (is(E : const  char[]) && is(typeof(doPut(r, char.max))) &&
> !is(typeof(doPut(r, dchar.max))) && !is(typeof(doPut(r, wchar.max)))) ||
>              (is(E : const wchar[]) && is(typeof(doPut(r, wchar.max)))
> && !is(typeof(doPut(r, dchar.max)))) ) )
>          {
>              foreach(c; e)
>                  doPut(r, c);
>          }
>          else
>          {
>              for (; !e.empty; e.popFront())
>                  put(r, e.front);
>          }
>      }
>      else
>      {
>          import std.string;
>          static assert (false, format("Cannot put a %s into a %s.",
> E.stringof, R.stringof));
>      }
> }
>
> What is the reason for that first function declaration, EArrayInit? It's
> not referenced anywhere else in the function, and it doesn't even have a
> body.

github blame is quite useful: 
https://github.com/D-Programming-Language/phobos/blame/master/std/range.d#L668

The commit: 
https://github.com/D-Programming-Language/phobos/commit/c717b503e7305a92410c23ca2bc2ea14b40f8aa2

It apparently was used when it was added, but is no longer used. Here is 
the commit that removed the use:

https://github.com/D-Programming-Language/phobos/commit/87c71e6e14c3e9365a2cbf10105d7e6854824275

I think it can be safely removed.

-Steve