diff --git a/scripts/runner.pl b/scripts/runner.pl
index 7cfc703..88b1f7a 100644
--- a/scripts/runner.pl
+++ b/scripts/runner.pl
@@ -54,16 +54,13 @@ sub update_db_config {
     }
     close($readhandle) or die "failed to close db.conf: $!";
 
-    say "Sanity check:";
-    say @lines;
-
     die "no database= line found in $remote_db_conf for some reason"
       unless $found;
 
     open( my $writehandle, '>', $remote_db_conf )
       or die "failed to open db.conf: $!";
-    print( $writehandle, @lines ) or die "failed to write db.conf: $!";
-    close($writehandle)           or die "failed to close db.conf: $!";
+    print $writehandle @lines or die "failed to write db.conf: $!";
+    close($writehandle)       or die "failed to close db.conf: $!";
 
     say "Updated db.conf for database $db_prefix\_$experiment";
 }
@@ -253,7 +250,7 @@ ORDER BY variant, benchmark, resulttype;";
     open( my $results_overview_handle,
         '>', "$remote_builds_dir/$experiment/results.txt" )
       or die "failed to open file: $!";
-    print( $results_overview_handle, $results_overview );
+    print $results_overview_handle $results_overview;
     close($results_overview_handle) or die "failed to close file: $!";
 
     my $fail_markers_query = "SELECT
@@ -277,7 +274,7 @@ ORDER BY SUM(t.time2 - t.time1 + 1) DESC;";
     open( my $fail_markers_handle,
         '>', "$remote_builds_dir/$experiment/markers.csv" )
       or die "failed to open file: $!";
-    print( $fail_markers_handle, $fail_markers );
+    print $fail_markers_handle $fail_markers;
     close($fail_markers_handle) or die "failed to close file: $!";
 }