diff --git a/completion/available/gradle.completion.bash b/completion/available/gradle.completion.bash
index 786450a6..35971d50 100644
--- a/completion/available/gradle.completion.bash
+++ b/completion/available/gradle.completion.bash
@@ -22,17 +22,9 @@
 # Avoid inaccurate completions for subproject tasks
 COMP_WORDBREAKS=$(echo "$COMP_WORDBREAKS" | sed -e 's/://g')
 
-__gradle-set-project-root-dir() {
-    local dir="${PWD}"
-    project_root_dir="${PWD}"
-    while [[ $dir != '/' ]]; do
-        if [[ -f "$dir/settings.gradle" || -f "$dir/gradlew" ]]; then
-            project_root_dir=$dir
-            return 0
-        fi
-        dir="$(dirname "$dir")"
-    done
-    return 1
+function __gradle-set-project-root-dir() {
+    project_root_dir="$(_bash-it-find-in-ancestor "settings.gradle" "gradlew")"
+    return "$?"
 }
 
 __gradle-init-cache-dir() {
diff --git a/lib/helpers.bash b/lib/helpers.bash
index fbc6aa88..94df885d 100755
--- a/lib/helpers.bash
+++ b/lib/helpers.bash
@@ -849,3 +849,30 @@ then
     fi
   }
 fi
+
+# `_bash-it-find-in-ancestor` uses the shell's ability to run a function in
+# a subshell to simplify our search to a simple `cd ..` and `[[ -r $1 ]]`
+# without any external dependencies. Let the shell do what it's good at.
+function _bash-it-find-in-ancestor() (
+	about 'searches parents of the current directory for any of the specified file names'
+	group 'helpers'
+	param '*: names of files or folders to search for'
+	returns '0: prints path of closest matching ancestor directory to stdout'
+	returns '1: no match found'
+	returns '2: improper usage of shell builtin' # uncommon
+	example '_bash-it-find-in-ancestor .git .hg'
+	example '_bash-it-find-in-ancestor GNUmakefile Makefile makefile'
+
+	local kin
+	# To keep things simple, we do not search the root dir.
+	while [[ "${PWD}" != '/' ]]; do
+		for kin in "$@"; do
+			if [[ -r "${PWD}/${kin}" ]]; then
+				printf '%s' "${PWD}"
+				return "$?"
+			fi
+		done
+		command cd .. || return "$?"
+	done
+	return 1
+)
diff --git a/plugins/available/gradle.plugin.bash b/plugins/available/gradle.plugin.bash
index 6267bd84..8dec1313 100644
--- a/plugins/available/gradle.plugin.bash
+++ b/plugins/available/gradle.plugin.bash
@@ -3,19 +3,10 @@ about-plugin 'Add a gw command to use gradle wrapper if present, else use system
 
 function gw() {
   local file="gradlew"
-  local curr_path="${PWD}"
-  local result="gradle"
+  local result
 
-  # Search recursively upwards for file.
-  until [[ "${curr_path}" == "/" ]]; do
-    if [[ -e "${curr_path}/${file}" ]]; then
-      result="${curr_path}/${file}"
-      break
-    else
-      curr_path=$(dirname "${curr_path}")
-    fi
-  done
+  result="$(_bash-it-find-in-ancestor "${file}")"
 
   # Call gradle
-  "${result}" $*
+  "${result:-gradle}" $*
 }