diff --git a/src/basic/signal-util.c b/src/basic/signal-util.c
index cb59f6ca0f..e976205d86 100644
--- a/src/basic/signal-util.c
+++ b/src/basic/signal-util.c
@@ -49,16 +49,7 @@ static int sigaction_many_ap(const struct sigaction *sa, int sig, va_list ap) {
         int r = 0;
 
         /* negative signal ends the list. 0 signal is skipped. */
-
-        if (sig < 0)
-                return 0;
-
-        if (sig > 0) {
-                if (sigaction(sig, sa, NULL) < 0)
-                        r = -errno;
-        }
-
-        while ((sig = va_arg(ap, int)) >= 0) {
+        for (; sig >= 0; sig = va_arg(ap, int)) {
 
                 if (sig == 0)
                         continue;
diff --git a/src/basic/string-util.c b/src/basic/string-util.c
index ab725d0dab..12c4ae177a 100644
--- a/src/basic/string-util.c
+++ b/src/basic/string-util.c
@@ -145,57 +145,32 @@ char *strnappend(const char *s, const char *suffix, size_t b) {
 
 char *strjoin_real(const char *x, ...) {
         va_list ap;
-        size_t l;
+        size_t l = 1;
         char *r, *p;
 
         va_start(ap, x);
+        for (const char *t = x; t; t = va_arg(ap, const char *)) {
+                size_t n;
 
-        if (x) {
-                l = strlen(x);
-
-                for (;;) {
-                        const char *t;
-                        size_t n;
-
-                        t = va_arg(ap, const char *);
-                        if (!t)
-                                break;
-
-                        n = strlen(t);
-                        if (n > ((size_t) -1) - l) {
-                                va_end(ap);
-                                return NULL;
-                        }
-
-                        l += n;
+                n = strlen(t);
+                if (n > SIZE_MAX - l) {
+                        va_end(ap);
+                        return NULL;
                 }
-        } else
-                l = 0;
-
+                l += n;
+        }
         va_end(ap);
 
-        r = new(char, l+1);
+        p = r = new(char, l);
         if (!r)
                 return NULL;
 
-        if (x) {
-                p = stpcpy(r, x);
+        va_start(ap, x);
+        for (const char *t = x; t; t = va_arg(ap, const char *))
+                p = stpcpy(p, t);
+        va_end(ap);
 
-                va_start(ap, x);
-
-                for (;;) {
-                        const char *t;
-
-                        t = va_arg(ap, const char *);
-                        if (!t)
-                                break;
-
-                        p = stpcpy(p, t);
-                }
-
-                va_end(ap);
-        } else
-                r[0] = 0;
+        *p = 0;
 
         return r;
 }
diff --git a/src/basic/strv.c b/src/basic/strv.c
index c5e6dd5f21..dd3a164879 100644
--- a/src/basic/strv.c
+++ b/src/basic/strv.c
@@ -123,7 +123,6 @@ size_t strv_length(char * const *l) {
 }
 
 char **strv_new_ap(const char *x, va_list ap) {
-        const char *s;
         _cleanup_strv_free_ char **a = NULL;
         size_t n = 0, i = 0;
         va_list aq;
@@ -133,43 +132,28 @@ char **strv_new_ap(const char *x, va_list ap) {
          * STRV_IFNOTNULL() macro to include possibly NULL strings in
          * the string list. */
 
-        if (x) {
-                n = x == STRV_IGNORE ? 0 : 1;
+        va_copy(aq, ap);
+        for (const char *s = x; s; s = va_arg(aq, const char*)) {
+                if (s == STRV_IGNORE)
+                        continue;
 
-                va_copy(aq, ap);
-                while ((s = va_arg(aq, const char*))) {
-                        if (s == STRV_IGNORE)
-                                continue;
-
-                        n++;
-                }
-
-                va_end(aq);
+                n++;
         }
+        va_end(aq);
 
         a = new(char*, n+1);
         if (!a)
                 return NULL;
 
-        if (x) {
-                if (x != STRV_IGNORE) {
-                        a[i] = strdup(x);
-                        if (!a[i])
-                                return NULL;
-                        i++;
-                }
+        for (const char *s = x; s; s = va_arg(ap, const char*)) {
+                if (s == STRV_IGNORE)
+                        continue;
 
-                while ((s = va_arg(ap, const char*))) {
+                a[i] = strdup(s);
+                if (!a[i])
+                        return NULL;
 
-                        if (s == STRV_IGNORE)
-                                continue;
-
-                        a[i] = strdup(s);
-                        if (!a[i])
-                                return NULL;
-
-                        i++;
-                }
+                i++;
         }
 
         a[i] = NULL;