diff --git a/src/go/build/deps_test.go b/src/go/build/deps_test.go
index 7b9826e0f2c..d541f0926de 100644
--- a/src/go/build/deps_test.go
+++ b/src/go/build/deps_test.go
@@ -626,21 +626,6 @@ func TestDependencies(t *testing.T) {
 			t.Errorf("unexpected dependency: %s imports %v", pkg, bad)
 		}
 	}
-
-	// depPath returns the path between the given from and to packages.
-	// It returns the empty string if there's no dependency path.
-	var depPath func(string, string) string
-	depPath = func(from, to string) string {
-		if sawImport[from][to] {
-			return from + " => " + to
-		}
-		for pkg := range sawImport[from] {
-			if p := depPath(pkg, to); p != "" {
-				return from + " => " + p
-			}
-		}
-		return ""
-	}
 }
 
 var buildIgnore = []byte("\n//go:build ignore")