diff --git a/src/utils/PhutilRope.php b/src/utils/PhutilRope.php
--- a/src/utils/PhutilRope.php
+++ b/src/utils/PhutilRope.php
@@ -83,29 +83,29 @@
    * @param int Bytes to remove.
    * @return this
    */
-  public function removeBytesFromHead($length) {
-    if ($length <= 0) {
+  public function removeBytesFromHead($remove) {
+    if ($remove <= 0) {
       throw new InvalidArgumentException(
         pht('Length must be larger than 0!'));
     }
 
-    $remaining_length = $length;
+    $remaining_bytes = $remove;
     foreach ($this->buffers as $key => $buf) {
       $len = strlen($buf);
-      if ($len <= $length) {
+      if ($len <= $remaining_bytes) {
         unset($this->buffers[$key]);
-        $remaining_length -= $len;
-        if (!$remaining_length) {
+        $remaining_bytes -= $len;
+        if (!$remaining_bytes) {
           break;
         }
       } else {
-        $this->buffers[$key] = substr($buf, $length);
+        $this->buffers[$key] = substr($buf, $remaining_bytes);
         break;
       }
     }
 
-    if ($length <= $this->length) {
-      $this->length -= $length;
+    if ($this->buffers) {
+      $this->length -= $remove;
     } else {
       $this->length = 0;
     }
diff --git a/src/utils/__tests__/PhutilRopeTestCase.php b/src/utils/__tests__/PhutilRopeTestCase.php
--- a/src/utils/__tests__/PhutilRopeTestCase.php
+++ b/src/utils/__tests__/PhutilRopeTestCase.php
@@ -21,4 +21,36 @@
     $this->assertEqual('', $rope->getAsString());
   }
 
+  public function testMoreRopeOperations() {
+    $rope = new PhutilRope();
+    $rope->append('aaa');
+    $rope->append('bbb');
+    $rope->append('ccc');
+    $rope->append('rrrrddddddddd');
+    $rope->removeBytesFromHead(4);
+
+    $string = $rope->getAsString();
+    $this->assertEqual('bbcccrrrrddddddddd', $string);
+    $this->assertEqual(strlen($string), $rope->getByteLength());
+
+    $rope = new PhutilRope();
+    $rope->append('aaa');
+    $rope->append('bbb');
+    $rope->removeBytesFromHead(6);
+
+    $string = $rope->getAsString();
+    $this->assertEqual('', $string);
+    $this->assertEqual(0, $rope->getByteLength());
+
+
+    $rope = new PhutilRope();
+    $rope->append('a');
+    $rope->append('b');
+    $rope->append('c');
+    $rope->removeBytesFromHead(1024);
+
+    $string = $rope->getAsString();
+    $this->assertEqual('', $string);
+    $this->assertEqual(0, $rope->getByteLength());
+  }
 }