diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index 6e63b9eb..f22a2a08 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -18,3 +18,4 @@ profile/profile.tar
 cabal.sandbox.config
 .tmp1
 .tmp2
+.tmp3
diff --git a/verify_formatting.py b/verify_formatting.py
index 20b480a5..6fb02281 100755
--- a/verify_formatting.py
+++ b/verify_formatting.py
@@ -8,8 +8,11 @@ import subprocess
 
 
 def hindent(contents):
-    output = subprocess.check_output(["hindent", "--style", "gibiansky"],
-                                     input=bytes(contents, 'utf-8'))
+    with open(".tmp3", "w") as f:
+        f.write(contents)
+    with open(".tmp3", "r") as f:
+        output = subprocess.check_output(["hindent", "--style", "gibiansky"],
+                                         stdin=f)
     return output.decode('utf-8')