diff --git a/t/chainlint.sed b/t/chainlint.sed
index 2f786f890d..0e575c0c62 100644
--- a/t/chainlint.sed
+++ b/t/chainlint.sed
@@ -62,20 +62,20 @@
 # receives similar treatment.
 #
 # Swallowing here-docs with arbitrary tags requires a bit of finesse. When a
-# line such as "cat <<EOF >out" is seen, the here-doc tag is moved to the front
-# of the line enclosed in angle brackets as a sentinel, giving "<EOF>cat >out".
+# line such as "cat <<EOF" is seen, the here-doc tag is copied to the front of
+# the line enclosed in angle brackets as a sentinel, giving "<EOF>cat <<EOF".
 # As each subsequent line is read, it is appended to the target line and a
 # (whitespace-loose) back-reference match /^<(.*)>\n\1$/ is attempted to see if
 # the content inside "<...>" matches the entirety of the newly-read line. For
 # instance, if the next line read is "some data", when concatenated with the
-# target line, it becomes "<EOF>cat >out\nsome data", and a match is attempted
+# target line, it becomes "<EOF>cat <<EOF\nsome data", and a match is attempted
 # to see if "EOF" matches "some data". Since it doesn't, the next line is
 # attempted. When a line consisting of only "EOF" (and possible whitespace) is
-# encountered, it is appended to the target line giving "<EOF>cat >out\nEOF",
+# encountered, it is appended to the target line giving "<EOF>cat <<EOF\nEOF",
 # in which case the "EOF" inside "<...>" does match the text following the
 # newline, thus the closing here-doc tag has been found. The closing tag line
 # and the "<...>" prefix on the target line are then discarded, leaving just
-# the target line "cat >out".
+# the target line "cat <<EOF".
 #------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
 # incomplete line -- slurp up next line
@@ -90,8 +90,7 @@
 # command to which it was attached)
 /<<-*[ 	]*[\\'"]*[A-Za-z0-9_]/ {
 	/"[^"]*<<[^"]*"/bnotdoc
-	s/^\(.*\)<<-*[ 	]*[\\'"]*\([A-Za-z0-9_][A-Za-z0-9_]*\)['"]*/<\2>\1<</
-	s/[ 	]*<<//
+	s/^\(.*<<-*[ 	]*\)[\\'"]*\([A-Za-z0-9_][A-Za-z0-9_]*\)['"]*/<\2>\1\2/
 	:hered
 	N
 	/^<\([^>]*\)>.*\n[ 	]*\1[ 	]*$/!{
@@ -238,6 +237,7 @@ s/.*\n//
 :cont
 # retrieve and print previous line
 x
+s/?!HERE?!/<</g
 n
 bslurp
 
@@ -278,8 +278,7 @@ bfolded
 # found here-doc -- swallow it to avoid false hits within its body (but keep
 # the command to which it was attached)
 :heredoc
-s/^\(.*\)<<-*[ 	]*[\\'"]*\([A-Za-z0-9_][A-Za-z0-9_]*\)['"]*/<\2>\1<</
-s/[ 	]*<<//
+s/^\(.*\)<<\(-*[ 	]*\)[\\'"]*\([A-Za-z0-9_][A-Za-z0-9_]*\)['"]*/<\3>\1?!HERE?!\2\3/
 :hdocsub
 N
 /^<\([^>]*\)>.*\n[ 	]*\1[ 	]*$/!{
@@ -293,6 +292,7 @@ bfolded
 # found "case ... in" -- pass through untouched
 :case
 x
+s/?!HERE?!/<</g
 n
 /^[ 	]*esac/bslurp
 bcase
@@ -320,6 +320,7 @@ bchkchn
 :nest
 x
 :nstslrp
+s/?!HERE?!/<</g
 n
 # closing ")" on own line -- stop nested slurp
 /^[ 	]*)/bnstcl
@@ -342,6 +343,7 @@ bchkchn
 # found multi-line "{...\n...}" block -- pass through untouched
 :block
 x
+s/?!HERE?!/<</g
 n
 # closing "}" -- stop block slurp
 /}/bchkchn
@@ -352,13 +354,17 @@ bblock
 :clssolo
 x
 s/\( ?!AMP?!\)* ?!AMP?!$//
+s/?!HERE?!/<</g
 p
 x
+s/?!HERE?!/<</g
 b
 
 # found closing "...)" -- exit subshell loop
 :close
 x
+s/?!HERE?!/<</g
 p
 x
+s/?!HERE?!/<</g
 b
diff --git a/t/chainlint/for-loop.expect b/t/chainlint/for-loop.expect
index b74df064c5..6671b8cd84 100644
--- a/t/chainlint/for-loop.expect
+++ b/t/chainlint/for-loop.expect
@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@
 	for i in a b c
 	do
 		echo $i ?!AMP?!
-		cat
+		cat <<-EOF
 	done ?!AMP?!
 	for i in a b c; do
 		echo $i &&
diff --git a/t/chainlint/here-doc-close-subshell.expect b/t/chainlint/here-doc-close-subshell.expect
index e748526570..2af9ced71c 100644
--- a/t/chainlint/here-doc-close-subshell.expect
+++ b/t/chainlint/here-doc-close-subshell.expect
@@ -1,2 +1,2 @@
 (
-	cat)
+	cat <<-INPUT)
diff --git a/t/chainlint/here-doc-multi-line-command-subst.expect b/t/chainlint/here-doc-multi-line-command-subst.expect
index f1248f8ade..f8b3aa73c4 100644
--- a/t/chainlint/here-doc-multi-line-command-subst.expect
+++ b/t/chainlint/here-doc-multi-line-command-subst.expect
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 (
-	x=$(bobble &&
+	x=$(bobble <<-END &&
 		wiffle) ?!AMP?!
 	echo $x
 )
diff --git a/t/chainlint/here-doc-multi-line-string.expect b/t/chainlint/here-doc-multi-line-string.expect
index 7e883b252e..2578191ca8 100644
--- a/t/chainlint/here-doc-multi-line-string.expect
+++ b/t/chainlint/here-doc-multi-line-string.expect
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
 (
-	cat && echo "multi-line	string" ?!AMP?!
+	cat <<-TXT && echo "multi-line	string" ?!AMP?!
 	bap
 )
diff --git a/t/chainlint/here-doc.expect b/t/chainlint/here-doc.expect
index 8449eb2e02..110059ba58 100644
--- a/t/chainlint/here-doc.expect
+++ b/t/chainlint/here-doc.expect
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
-boodle wobba        gorgo snoot        wafta snurb &&
+boodle wobba        gorgo snoot        wafta snurb <<EOF &&
 
-cat >foo &&
+cat <<-Arbitrary_Tag_42 >foo &&
 
-cat >boo &&
+cat <<zump >boo &&
 
-horticulture
+horticulture <<EOF
diff --git a/t/chainlint/if-then-else.expect b/t/chainlint/if-then-else.expect
index debcf7b756..44d86c3597 100644
--- a/t/chainlint/if-then-else.expect
+++ b/t/chainlint/if-then-else.expect
@@ -8,7 +8,7 @@
 		echo foo
 	else
 		echo foo &&
-		cat
+		cat <<-EOF
 	fi ?!AMP?!
 	echo poodle
 ) &&
diff --git a/t/chainlint/nested-here-doc.expect b/t/chainlint/nested-here-doc.expect
index 2a51205d32..e3bef63f75 100644
--- a/t/chainlint/nested-here-doc.expect
+++ b/t/chainlint/nested-here-doc.expect
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
-cat >foop &&
+cat <<ARBITRARY >foop &&
 
 (
-	cat &&
-	cat ?!AMP?!
+	cat <<-INPUT_END &&
+	cat <<-EOT ?!AMP?!
 	foobar
 )
diff --git a/t/chainlint/subshell-here-doc.expect b/t/chainlint/subshell-here-doc.expect
index b7250ca753..029d129299 100644
--- a/t/chainlint/subshell-here-doc.expect
+++ b/t/chainlint/subshell-here-doc.expect
@@ -1,10 +1,10 @@
 (
-	echo wobba 	       gorgo snoot 	       wafta snurb &&
-	cat >bip ?!AMP?!
-	echo >bop
+	echo wobba 	       gorgo snoot 	       wafta snurb <<-EOF &&
+	cat <<EOF >bip ?!AMP?!
+	echo <<-EOF >bop
 ) &&
 (
-	cat >bup &&
-	cat >bup3 &&
+	cat <<-ARBITRARY >bup &&
+	cat <<-ARBITRARY3 >bup3 &&
 	meep
 )
diff --git a/t/chainlint/t7900-subtree.expect b/t/chainlint/t7900-subtree.expect
index 215aca01c2..1cccc7bf7e 100644
--- a/t/chainlint/t7900-subtree.expect
+++ b/t/chainlint/t7900-subtree.expect
@@ -1,9 +1,9 @@
 (
 	chks="sub1sub2sub3sub4" &&
-	chks_sub=$(cat | sed "s,^,sub dir/,"
+	chks_sub=$(cat <<TXT | sed "s,^,sub dir/,"
 ) &&
 	chkms="main-sub1main-sub2main-sub3main-sub4" &&
-	chkms_sub=$(cat | sed "s,^,sub dir/,"
+	chkms_sub=$(cat <<TXT | sed "s,^,sub dir/,"
 ) &&
 	subfiles=$(git ls-files) &&
 	check_equal "$subfiles" "$chkms$chks"
diff --git a/t/chainlint/while-loop.expect b/t/chainlint/while-loop.expect
index e2813b378e..0d3a9b3d12 100644
--- a/t/chainlint/while-loop.expect
+++ b/t/chainlint/while-loop.expect
@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@
 	while true
 	do
 		echo foo ?!AMP?!
-		cat
+		cat <<-EOF
 	done ?!AMP?!
 	while true; do
 		echo foo &&