diff --git a/doc/gitsigns.txt b/doc/gitsigns.txt
index bda1a13..ad5aef3 100644
--- a/doc/gitsigns.txt
+++ b/doc/gitsigns.txt
@@ -1213,4 +1213,3 @@ GitSignsChanged    After any event in which Gitsigns can potentially change
 
 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 vim:tw=78:ts=8:ft=help:norl:
-
diff --git a/gen_help.lua b/gen_help.lua
index 1631a91..2aa6d00 100755
--- a/gen_help.lua
+++ b/gen_help.lua
@@ -7,22 +7,13 @@ local startswith = vim.startswith
 
 local config = require('lua.gitsigns.config')
 
---- @param path string
---- @return string
-local function read_file(path)
-  local f = assert(io.open(path, 'r'))
-  local t = f:read('*all')
-  f:close()
-  return t
-end
-
 -- To make sure the output is consistent between runs (to minimise diffs), we
 -- need to iterate through the schema keys in a deterministic way. To do this we
 -- do a smple scan over the file the schema is defined in and collect the keys
 -- in the order they are defined.
 --- @return string[]
 local function get_ordered_schema_keys()
-  local ci = read_file('lua/gitsigns/config.lua'):gmatch('[^\n\r]+')
+  local ci = io.lines('lua/gitsigns/config.lua') --- @type Iterator[string]
 
   for l in ci do
     if startswith(l, 'M.schema = {') then
@@ -356,7 +347,7 @@ end
 --- @param path string
 --- @return string
 local function gen_functions_doc_from_file(path)
-  local i = read_file(path):gmatch('([^\n]*)\n?') --- @type Iterator[string]
+  local i = io.lines(path) --- @type Iterator[string]
 
   local blocks = {} --- @type string[][]
 
@@ -450,7 +441,7 @@ end
 
 --- @return string
 local function get_setup_from_readme()
-  local readme = read_file('README.md'):gmatch('([^\n]*)\n?') --- @type Iterator
+  local readme = io.lines('README.md') --- @type Iterator[string]
   local res = {} --- @type string[]
 
   local function append(line)
@@ -493,7 +484,7 @@ local function get_marker_text(marker)
 end
 
 local function main()
-  local template = read_file('etc/doc_template.txt'):gmatch('([^\n]*)\n?') --- @type Iterator
+  local template = io.lines('etc/doc_template.txt') --- @type Iterator[string]
 
   local out = assert(io.open('doc/gitsigns.txt', 'w'))