lib/PublicInbox/Gcf2.pm   | 2 +-
 lib/PublicInbox/Inbox.pm  | 9 +++------
 script/public-inbox-edit  | 3 ++-
 script/public-inbox-init  | 6 +-----
 script/public-inbox-learn | 3 +--
 script/public-inbox-purge | 2 +-

diff --git a/lib/PublicInbox/Gcf2.pm b/lib/PublicInbox/Gcf2.pm
index 041dffe7d9c7b26396ab0a97f7b7deaf008c6896..fe6afef26e5959dd08f43cdef5e25466a56af539 100644
--- a/lib/PublicInbox/Gcf2.pm
+++ b/lib/PublicInbox/Gcf2.pm
@@ -35,7 +35,7 @@ 		my $f = "$dir/gcf2_$x.h";
 		if (open(my $fh, '<', $f)) {
 			chomp($l, $c);
 			local $/;
-			$c_src = <$fh>;
+			defined($c_src = <$fh>) or die "read $f: $!\n";
 			$CFG{LIBS} = $l;
 			$CFG{CCFLAGSEX} = $c;
 			last;
diff --git a/lib/PublicInbox/Inbox.pm b/lib/PublicInbox/Inbox.pm
index 1b9b56ff1a7220e12350b726520bfcf91efa59e2..af6380a758b187127b7240bb6f422e75dca283b5 100644
--- a/lib/PublicInbox/Inbox.pm
+++ b/lib/PublicInbox/Inbox.pm
@@ -210,12 +210,9 @@
 
 sub try_cat {
 	my ($path) = @_;
-	my $rv = '';
-	if (open(my $fh, '<', $path)) {
-		local $/;
-		$rv = <$fh>;
-	}
-	$rv;
+	open(my $fh, '<', $path) or return '';
+	local $/;
+	<$fh> // '';
 }
 
 sub cat_desc ($) {
diff --git a/script/public-inbox-edit b/script/public-inbox-edit
index a70614fc2a4074e1c35485a2a290ddefe7ab0249..81f023bca1873e87491dddcfc141a006beb9e309 100755
--- a/script/public-inbox-edit
+++ b/script/public-inbox-edit
@@ -183,7 +183,8 @@ 	# reread the edited file, not using $edit_fh since $EDITOR may
 	# rename/relink $edit_fn
 	open my $new_fh, '<', $edit_fn or
 		die "can't read edited file ($edit_fn): $!\n";
-	my $new_raw = do { local $/; <$new_fh> };
+	defined(my $new_raw = do { local $/; <$new_fh> }) or die
+		"read $edit_fn: $!\n";
 
 	if (!$opt->{raw}) {
 		# get rid of the From we added
diff --git a/script/public-inbox-init b/script/public-inbox-init
index 6d538e430605a36fbac0d27dcb489078b13fa919..7ac7783007a15d4cf98e51a545db503829909d0a 100755
--- a/script/public-inbox-init
+++ b/script/public-inbox-init
@@ -100,11 +100,7 @@ 	$perm = $st[2];
 	defined $perm or die "(f)stat failed on $pi_config: $!\n";
 	chmod($perm & 07777, $fh) or
 		die "(f)chmod failed on future $pi_config: $!\n";
-	my $old;
-	{
-		local $/;
-		$old = <$oh>;
-	}
+	defined(my $old = do { local $/; <$oh> }) or die "read $pi_config: $!\n";
 	print $fh $old or die "failed to write: $!\n";
 	close $oh or die "failed to close $pi_config: $!\n";
 
diff --git a/script/public-inbox-learn b/script/public-inbox-learn
index 9352c8ff7dd41088796eb60607452cea3b98cc0d..1731a4ba4037c0ee889c09b8a1424378c0f5cdff 100755
--- a/script/public-inbox-learn
+++ b/script/public-inbox-learn
@@ -39,8 +39,7 @@ my $spamc = PublicInbox::Spamcheck::Spamc->new;
 my $pi_cfg = PublicInbox::Config->new;
 my $err;
 my $mime = PublicInbox::Eml->new(do{
-	local $/;
-	my $data = <STDIN>;
+	defined(my $data = do { local $/; <STDIN> }) or die "read STDIN: $!\n";
 	$data =~ s/\A[\r\n]*From [^\r\n]*\r?\n//s;
 
 	if ($train ne 'rm') {
diff --git a/script/public-inbox-purge b/script/public-inbox-purge
index 7bca11eafc6fc81f1566a6c8fc6b37e27817e6fb..52f1f18a61cb210f283a30495577b7736870337c 100755
--- a/script/public-inbox-purge
+++ b/script/public-inbox-purge
@@ -32,7 +32,7 @@
 my @ibxs = PublicInbox::Admin::resolve_inboxes(\@ARGV, $opt);
 PublicInbox::AdminEdit::check_editable(\@ibxs);
 
-my $data = do { local $/; <STDIN> };
+defined(my $data = do { local $/; <STDIN> }) or die "read STDIN: $!\n";
 $data =~ s/\A[\r\n]*From [^\r\n]*\r?\n//s;
 my $n_purged = 0;