diff --git a/cipd b/cipd
index 11f7475118..dc305f8aa3 100755
--- a/cipd
+++ b/cipd
@@ -90,13 +90,13 @@ CIPD_BACKEND="https://chrome-infra-packages.appspot.com"
 VERSION_FILE="${MYPATH}/cipd_client_version"
 
 CLIENT="${MYPATH}/.cipd_client"
-VERSION=`cat "${VERSION_FILE}"`
+VERSION=$(<"${VERSION_FILE}")
 PLATFORM="${OS}-${ARCH}"
 
 # A value in .cipd_client_platform overrides the "guessed" platform.
 PLATFORM_OVERRIDE_FILE="${MYPATH}/.cipd_client_platform"
 if [ -f "${PLATFORM_OVERRIDE_FILE}" ]; then
-  PLATFORM=`cat ${PLATFORM_OVERRIDE_FILE}`
+  PLATFORM=$(<"${PLATFORM_OVERRIDE_FILE}")
 fi
 
 URL="${CIPD_BACKEND}/client?platform=${PLATFORM}&version=${VERSION}"
@@ -232,7 +232,7 @@ function self_update() {
 # so mismatches are very unlikely.
 INSTALLED_VERSION_FILE="${MYPATH}/.versions/.cipd_client.cipd_version"
 if [ -f "${INSTALLED_VERSION_FILE}" ]; then
-  JSON_BODY=`cat "${INSTALLED_VERSION_FILE}"`
+  JSON_BODY=$(<"${INSTALLED_VERSION_FILE}")
   if [[ "$JSON_BODY" != *"infra/tools/cipd/${PLATFORM}"* ]]; then
     >&2 echo "Detected CIPD client platform change to ${PLATFORM}."
     >&2 echo "Deleting the existing client to trigger the bootstrap..."
diff --git a/python-bin/python3 b/python-bin/python3
index eec3590160..a29fdc63cf 100755
--- a/python-bin/python3
+++ b/python-bin/python3
@@ -6,7 +6,7 @@ if [ "$OSTYPE" = "msys" ]
 then
   PYTHON3_BIN_DIR="$DEPOT_TOOLS/$(sed -e 's-\\-/-g' $DEPOT_TOOLS/python3_bin_reldir.txt)"
 else
-  PYTHON3_BIN_DIR="$DEPOT_TOOLS/$(cat $DEPOT_TOOLS/python3_bin_reldir.txt)"
+  PYTHON3_BIN_DIR="$DEPOT_TOOLS/$(<"$DEPOT_TOOLS/python3_bin_reldir.txt")"
 fi
 PATH="$PYTHON3_BIN_DIR":"$PYTHON3_BIN_DIR/Scripts":"$PATH"
 "$PYTHON3_BIN_DIR/python3" "$@"
diff --git a/python2-bin/python2 b/python2-bin/python2
index a5a27f2be2..f488199daf 100755
--- a/python2-bin/python2
+++ b/python2-bin/python2
@@ -8,7 +8,7 @@ then
   # this converts them to the forward slashes a unix environment expects.
   PYTHON_BIN_DIR="$DEPOT_TOOLS/$(sed -e 's-\\-/-g' $DEPOT_TOOLS/python_bin_reldir.txt)"
 else
-  PYTHON_BIN_DIR="$DEPOT_TOOLS/$(cat $DEPOT_TOOLS/python_bin_reldir.txt)"
+  PYTHON_BIN_DIR="$DEPOT_TOOLS/$(<"$DEPOT_TOOLS/python_bin_reldir.txt")"
 fi
 PATH="$PYTHON_BIN_DIR":"$PATH"
 "$PYTHON_BIN_DIR/python" "$@"