diff --git a/layouts/_default/_markup/render-link.html b/layouts/_default/_markup/render-link.html
index 87185ca..112daf2 100644
--- a/layouts/_default/_markup/render-link.html
+++ b/layouts/_default/_markup/render-link.html
@@ -1,24 +1,25 @@
-{{- $scratch := newScratch -}}
+{{- $class := "" -}}
+{{- $icon := "" -}}
 {{- $absoluteDest := absLangURL .Destination -}}
 {{- $siteRootUrl := absLangURL "" -}}
 {{- $isExternal := not (hasPrefix $absoluteDest $siteRootUrl) -}}
 {{- $isSamePage := hasPrefix .Destination "#" -}}
 
 {{- if $isSamePage -}}
-  {{- $scratch.Set "class" "same-page-link" -}}
+  {{- $class = "same-page-link" -}}
   {{- if index (.Page.Scratch.Get "definedSections") .Destination -}}
-    {{- $scratch.Set "icon" "arrow-up" -}}
+    {{- $icon = "arrow-up" -}}
   {{- else -}}
     {{- /* Do not render "down" links because don't know how to distinguish unseen titles from paragraph links. */ -}}
-    {{- /* $scratch.Set "icon" "arrow-down" */ -}}
+    {{- /* $icon = "arrow-down" */ -}}
   {{- end -}}
 {{- else if $isExternal -}}
-  {{- $scratch.Set "class" "external-link" -}}
-  {{- $scratch.Set "icon" "external-link" -}}
+  {{- $class = "external-link" -}}
+  {{- $icon = "external-link" -}}
 {{- end -}}
 <a href="{{ .Destination | safeURL }}"
   {{- with .Title }} title="{{ . }}"{{ end -}}
-  {{- with $scratch.Get "class" -}}
+  {{- with $class -}}
     class="{{ . }}"
   {{- end -}}
   {{- if (and site.Params.externalLinksInNewTab $isExternal) -}}
@@ -26,6 +27,6 @@
   {{- end -}}
 >
   {{- with .Text | safeHTML }}{{ . }}{{ end -}}
-  {{- with $scratch.Get "icon" -}}{{- partial "icon.html" . -}}{{- end -}}
+  {{- with $icon -}}{{- partial "icon.html" . -}}{{- end -}}
 </a>
 {{- /* chomp trailing newline */ -}}
diff --git a/layouts/partials/highlightgroup.html b/layouts/partials/highlightgroup.html
index f6054c0..0fa7839 100644
--- a/layouts/partials/highlightgroup.html
+++ b/layouts/partials/highlightgroup.html
@@ -1,12 +1,11 @@
-{{- $scratch := newScratch -}}
-{{- $scratch.Set "highlightGroupAttrs" (printf "data-base-path=\"%s\" data-file-path=\"%v\"" .basePath .path) -}}
+{{- $highlightGroupAttrs := (printf "data-base-path=\"%s\" data-file-path=\"%v\"" .basePath .path) -}}
 {{- if (or .firstLine .lastLine) -}}
-{{- $scratch.Add "highlightGroupAttrs" (printf " data-first-line=\"%v\" data-last-line=\"%v\"" .firstLine .lastLine) -}}
+{{- $highlightGroupAttrs = add $highlightGroupAttrs (printf " data-first-line=\"%v\" data-last-line=\"%v\"" .firstLine .lastLine) -}}
 {{- end -}}
 {{- if eq (lower .language) "agda" -}}
-{{- $scratch.Add "highlightGroupAttrs" " data-agda-block" -}}
+{{- $highlightGroupAttrs = add $highlightGroupAttrs " data-agda-block" -}}
 {{- end -}}
 {{- with .offset -}}
-{{- $scratch.Add "highlightGroupAttrs" (printf " data-source-offset=\"%v\"" .) -}}
+{{- $highlightGroupAttrs = add $highlightGroupAttrs (printf " data-source-offset=\"%v\"" .) -}}
 {{- end -}}
-{{ partial "group.html" (dict "url" .url "path" .path "comment" .comment "content" (highlight .code .language .opts) "attrs" ($scratch.Get "highlightGroupAttrs")) }}
+{{ partial "group.html" (dict "url" .url "path" .path "comment" .comment "content" (highlight .code .language .opts) "attrs" $highlightGroupAttrs) }}
diff --git a/layouts/shortcodes/codelines.html b/layouts/shortcodes/codelines.html
index 0993e55..15ba14c 100644
--- a/layouts/shortcodes/codelines.html
+++ b/layouts/shortcodes/codelines.html
@@ -1,39 +1,38 @@
 {{- $source := (readFile (printf "code/%s" (.Get 1))) -}}
 {{- $allLines := split $source "\n" -}}
 {{- $scratch := newScratch -}}
+{{- $remLines := $allLines -}}
 {{- if not (eq (int (.Get 2)) 1) -}}
-{{- $scratch.Set "remLines" (after (sub (int (.Get 2)) 1) $allLines) -}}
-{{- else -}}
-{{- $scratch.Set "remLines" $allLines -}}
+{{- $remLines = after (sub (int (.Get 2)) 1) $allLines -}}
 {{- end -}}
-{{- $lines := first (add (sub (int (.Get 3)) (int (.Get 2))) 1) ($scratch.Get "remLines") -}}
+{{- $lines := first (add (sub (int (.Get 3)) (int (.Get 2))) 1) $remLines -}}
 
+{{- $opts := "" -}}
 {{- if (.Get 4) -}}
-{{- $scratch.Set "opts" (printf ",%s" (.Get 4)) -}}
-{{- else -}}
-{{- $scratch.Set "opts" "" -}}
+{{- $opts = printf ",%s" (.Get 4) -}}
 {{- end -}}
 
 {{- if (.Get 5) -}}
 {{- $scratch.Set "hidden" (.Get 5) -}}
 {{- end -}}
 
+{{- $prefixLength := "" -}}
+{{- $joinedLines := "" -}}
 {{- if or (.Page.Params.left_align_code) (.Get 6) -}}
-{{- $scratch.Set "prefixLength" -1 -}}
+{{- $prefixLength = -1 -}}
 {{- range $line := $lines -}}
 {{- $leading := sub (len $line) (len (strings.TrimLeft " " $line)) -}}
-{{- if and (ne $line "") (or (eq ($scratch.Get "prefixLength") -1) (le $leading ($scratch.Get "prefixLength"))) -}}
-{{- $scratch.Set "prefixLength" $leading -}}
+{{- if and (ne $line "") (or (eq $prefixLength -1) (le $leading $prefixLength)) -}}
+{{- $prefixLength = $leading -}}
 {{- end -}}
 {{- end -}}
 
-{{- $scratch.Set "joinedLines" "" -}}
 {{- range $line := $lines -}}
-{{- $scratch.Add "joinedLines" (substr $line ($scratch.Get "prefixLength")) -}}
-{{- $scratch.Add "joinedLines" "\n" -}}
+{{- $joinedLines = add $joinedLines (substr $line $prefixLength) -}}
+{{- $joinedLines = add $joinedLines "\n" -}}
 {{- end -}}
 {{- else -}}
-{{- $scratch.Set "joinedLines" (delimit $lines "\n") -}}
+{{- $joinedLines = delimit $lines "\n" -}}
 {{- end -}}
 
 {{- partial "geturl.html" (dict "scratch" $scratch "path" (.Get 1) "lines" (slice (.Get 2) (.Get 3))) -}}
@@ -47,12 +46,12 @@
        "basePath" ($scratch.Get "bestPath")
        "path" (.Get 1)
        "comment" ($scratch.Get "comment")
-       "code" ($scratch.Get "joinedLines")
+       "code" $joinedLines
        "firstLine" (int (.Get 2))
        "lastLine" (int (.Get 3))
        "language" (.Get 0)
-       "offset" ($scratch.Get "prefixLength")
-       "opts" (printf "linenos=table,linenostart=%d%s" (.Get 2) ($scratch.Get "opts"))
+       "offset" $prefixLength
+       "opts" (printf "linenos=table,linenostart=%d%s" (.Get 2) $opts)
 -}}
 {{- partial "highlightgroup.html" $groupconfig -}}
 {{- with ($scratch.Get "hidden") -}}