diff --git a/markdown.awk b/markdown.awk
index 293002f..73769ce 100755
--- a/markdown.awk
+++ b/markdown.awk
@@ -100,10 +100,10 @@ function parse_list(str,    buf, result, i, ind, line, lines, indent, is_bullet)
 	result = "";
 	buf = "";
 
-	split(str, lines, "\n");
+	num_lines = split(str, lines, "\n");
 
 	str = ""
-	for (i=1; i<=length(lines); i++) {
+	for (i=1; i<=num_lines; i++) {
 		line = lines[i];
 
 		if (match(line, /^[[:space:]]*[-+*][[:space:]]/) || 
@@ -113,7 +113,7 @@ function parse_list(str,    buf, result, i, ind, line, lines, indent, is_bullet)
 			str = join_lines(rstrip(str), lstrip(line), " ");
 	}
 
-	split(str, lines, "\n")
+	num_lines = split(str, lines, "\n")
 
 	indent = match(str, /[^ ]/);
 	is_bullet = match(str, /^[[:space:]]*[-+*][[:space:]]/)
@@ -123,7 +123,7 @@ function parse_list(str,    buf, result, i, ind, line, lines, indent, is_bullet)
 	else
 		result = "<ol>\n"
 
-	for (i=1; i<=length(lines); i++) {
+	for (i=1; i<=num_lines; i++) {
 		line = lines[i];
 
 		if (match(line, "[^ ]") > indent) {
@@ -367,10 +367,10 @@ function parse_line(str,    result, end, i, c) {
 }
 
 function parse_blockquote(str,    i, lines, line, buf, result) {
-	split(str, lines, "\n");
+	num_lines = split(str, lines, "\n");
 
 	str = ""
-	for (i=1; i<=length(lines); i++) {
+	for (i=1; i<=num_lines; i++) {
 		line = lines[i];
 
 		if (match(line, /^>/))
@@ -379,11 +379,11 @@ function parse_blockquote(str,    i, lines, line, buf, result) {
 			str = join_lines(rstrip(str), lstrip(line), " ");
 	}
 	
-	split(str, lines, "\n");
+	num_lines = split(str, lines, "\n");
 
 	result = "<blockquote>";
 	buf = "";
-	for (i=1; i<=length(lines); i++) {
+	for (i=1; i<=num_lines; i++) {
 		line = lines[i];
 		gsub(/^> ?/, "", line);
 
@@ -409,9 +409,9 @@ function parse_code(str,    i, lines, result) {
 	}
 	if (match(str, /^    /)) {
 		result = "";
-		split(str, lines, "\n");
+		num_lines = split(str, lines, "\n");
 
-		for (i=1; i<=length(lines); i++) {
+		for (i=1; i<=num_lines; i++) {
 			line = lines[i];
 			gsub(/^    /, "", line);
 			result = result "\n" line;
@@ -424,8 +424,8 @@ function parse_code(str,    i, lines, result) {
 }
 
 function is_metadata(str,    i, lines, line) {
-	split(str, lines, "\n");
-	for (i=1; i<=length(lines); i++) {
+	num_lines = split(str, lines, "\n");
+	for (i=1; i<=num_lines; i++) {
 		line = lines[i];
 
 		if (! match(line, /^[^ ]+: .+$/))
@@ -444,13 +444,13 @@ function col_count(str,    i, count) {
 
 }
 function is_table(str,    i, lines, line) {
-	split(str, lines, "\n");
+	num_lines = split(str, lines, "\n");
 	num_cols = col_count(lines[1]);
 	if (!match(lines[2], /^([[:space:]]*\|[[:space:]]*-{3,}[[:space:]])*\|[[:space:]]*/)) {
 		return 0;
 	}
 
-	for (i=2; i<=length(lines); i++) {
+	for (i=2; i<=num_lines; i++) {
 		line = lines[i];
 
 	    if (col_count(line) != num_cols)
@@ -461,7 +461,7 @@ function is_table(str,    i, lines, line) {
 }
 
 function parse_table(str, num_cols, lines, line, cols, i, j) {
-	split(str, lines, "\n");
+	num_lines = split(str, lines, "\n");
 	num_cols = col_count(lines[1]);
 
 	split(lines[1], cols, "|");
@@ -471,7 +471,7 @@ function parse_table(str, num_cols, lines, line, cols, i, j) {
     }
 	res = res "</tr>\n"
 
-	for (i=3; i<=length(lines); i++) {
+	for (i=3; i<=num_lines; i++) {
 		line = lines[i];
 	    split(line, cols, "|");
 	    res=res "<tr>\n";
@@ -515,11 +515,11 @@ function parse_block(str) {
 }
 
 function parse_body(str,    body, line, lines, result, i) {
-	split(str, lines, "\n");
+	num_lines = split(str, lines, "\n");
 	result = "";
 	body = "";
 
-	for (i=1; i<=length(lines); i++) {
+	for (i=1; i<=num_lines; i++) {
 		line = lines[i];
 		if (line_continues(body, line)) {
 			if (body != "")