lib/PublicInbox/SearchThread.pm | 22 +++++++++++-----------
 lib/PublicInbox/SearchView.pm   |  4 ++--
 lib/PublicInbox/View.pm         |  4 ++--
 t/thread-cycle.t                |  4 ++--

diff --git a/lib/PublicInbox/SearchThread.pm b/lib/PublicInbox/SearchThread.pm
index 507f25baab0e04760b3e55c57f116d6a958246a6..f07dd69665623985461df30166cd0c148b4fe7f8 100644
--- a/lib/PublicInbox/SearchThread.pm
+++ b/lib/PublicInbox/SearchThread.pm
@@ -83,15 +83,15 @@ 			$prev->add_child($smsg);
 		}
 	}
 	my $ibx = $ctx->{ibx};
-	my $rootset = [ grep { # n.b.: delete prevents cyclic refs
+	my @rootset = grep { # n.b.: delete prevents cyclic refs
 			!delete($_->{parent}) && $_->visible($ibx)
-		} values %id_table ];
-	$rootset = $ordersub->($rootset);
-	$_->order_children($ordersub, $ctx) for @$rootset;
+		} values %id_table;
+	$ordersub->(\@rootset);
+	$_->order_children($ordersub, $ctx) for @rootset;
 
 	# parent imposter messages with reused Message-IDs
 	unshift(@{$id_table{$_->{mid}}->{children}}, $_) for @imposters;
-	$rootset;
+	\@rootset;
 }
 
 package PublicInbox::SearchThread::Msg;
@@ -172,12 +172,12 @@ 	my %seen = ($cur => 1); # self-referential loop prevention
 	my @q = ($cur);
 	my $ibx = $ctx->{ibx};
 	while (defined($cur = shift @q)) {
-		my $c = $cur->{children}; # The hashref here...
-
-		$c = [ grep { !$seen{$_}++ && visible($_, $ibx) } values %$c ];
-		$c = $ordersub->($c) if scalar @$c > 1;
-		$cur->{children} = $c; # ...becomes an arrayref
-		push @q, @$c;
+		# the {children} hashref here...
+		my @c = grep { !$seen{$_}++ && visible($_, $ibx) }
+			values %{$cur->{children}};
+		$ordersub->(\@c) if scalar(@c) > 1;
+		$cur->{children} = \@c; # ...becomes an arrayref
+		push @q, @c;
 	}
 }
 
diff --git a/lib/PublicInbox/SearchView.pm b/lib/PublicInbox/SearchView.pm
index a42867c5f577aee444eeacb2681b538dca717dd2..b1cdb480d75d2ef97a76d024ab95ad8736f85f52 100644
--- a/lib/PublicInbox/SearchView.pm
+++ b/lib/PublicInbox/SearchView.pm
@@ -274,10 +274,10 @@ 		q{<a href=#d>above</a></pre>};
 }
 
 sub sort_relevance {
-	[ sort {
+	@{$_[0]} = sort {
 		(eval { $b->topmost->{pct} } // 0) <=>
 		(eval { $a->topmost->{pct} } // 0)
-	} @{$_[0]} ]
+	} @{$_[0]};
 }
 
 sub mset_thread {
diff --git a/lib/PublicInbox/View.pm b/lib/PublicInbox/View.pm
index 116aa6418c4404475913b740f8ad373924077b8c..2e9cf7054243897ea0eb84c7d654f9d0add6906d 100644
--- a/lib/PublicInbox/View.pm
+++ b/lib/PublicInbox/View.pm
@@ -1073,10 +1073,10 @@ 	1;
 }
 
 sub sort_ds {
-	[ sort {
+	@{$_[0]} = sort {
 		(eval { $a->topmost->{ds} } || 0) <=>
 		(eval { $b->topmost->{ds} } || 0)
-	} @{$_[0]} ];
+	} @{$_[0]};
 }
 
 # accumulate recent topics if search is supported
diff --git a/t/thread-cycle.t b/t/thread-cycle.t
index e89b18464a5f55335c63320b33e9c172e65f3f79..1e5dfb51ab47a2865f9ab7835eda154291a5e65e 100644
--- a/t/thread-cycle.t
+++ b/t/thread-cycle.t
@@ -108,7 +108,7 @@ 	(undef, $smsgs) = $make_objs->(@dup);
 	eval 'package EmptyInbox; sub smsg_by_mid { undef }';
 	my $ctx = { ibx => bless {}, 'EmptyInbox' };
 	my $rootset = PublicInbox::SearchThread::thread($smsgs, sub {
-		[ sort { $a->{mid} cmp $b->{mid} } @{$_[0]} ] }, $ctx);
+		@{$_[0]} = sort { $a->{mid} cmp $b->{mid} } @{$_[0]} }, $ctx);
 	my $oldout = select $fh;
 	find_cycle($rootset);
 	select $oldout;
@@ -120,7 +120,7 @@
 sub thread_to_s {
 	my ($msgs) = @_;
 	my $rootset = PublicInbox::SearchThread::thread($msgs, sub {
-		[ sort { $a->{mid} cmp $b->{mid} } @{$_[0]} ] });
+		@{$_[0]} = sort { $a->{mid} cmp $b->{mid} } @{$_[0]} });
 	my $st = '';
 	my @q = map { (0, $_) } @$rootset;
 	while (@q) {