diff --git a/se/commands/find_unusual_characters.py b/se/commands/find_unusual_characters.py
index fe8a049d..aeb1f669 100644
--- a/se/commands/find_unusual_characters.py
+++ b/se/commands/find_unusual_characters.py
@@ -26,32 +26,6 @@ def find_unusual_characters(plain_output: bool) -> int:
 	return_code = 0
 	unusual_characters: Dict[str, int] = {} # key: word; value: count
 	target_filenames = se.get_target_filenames(args.targets, ".xhtml")
-	files_xhtml = []
-
-	# Read files and cache for later
-	for filename in target_filenames:
-		try:
-			with open(filename, "r", encoding="utf-8") as file:
-				xhtml = file.read()
-				dom = se.easy_xml.EasyXmlTree(xhtml)
-
-				# Save any `alt` and `title` attributes because we may be interested in their contents
-				for node in dom.xpath("//*[@alt or @title]"):
-					for _, value in node.attrs.items():
-						xhtml = xhtml + f" {value} "
-
-				# Strip tags
-				xhtml = regex.sub(r"<[^>]+?>", " ", xhtml)
-
-				files_xhtml.append(xhtml)
-
-		except FileNotFoundError:
-			se.print_error(f"Couldn’t open file: [path][link=file://{filename}]{filename}[/][/].", plain_output=plain_output)
-			return_code = se.InvalidInputException.code
-
-		except se.SeException as ex:
-			se.print_error(str(ex) + f" File: [path][link=file://{filename}]{filename}[/][/].", plain_output=plain_output)
-			return_code = ex.code
 
 	# Create a regex for unusual characters.
 	# The result is a series of Unicode ranges that cover the characters
@@ -118,12 +92,34 @@ def find_unusual_characters(plain_output: bool) -> int:
 	unusual_character_set += "\u2e3c-\ufefe"
 	unusual_character_set += "]"
 
-	for xhtml in files_xhtml:
-		for character in regex.findall(unusual_character_set, xhtml):
-			if character in unusual_characters:
-				unusual_characters[character] = unusual_characters[character] + len(character)
-			else:
-				unusual_characters[character] = len(character)
+	# Read files and process one at a time
+	for filename in target_filenames:
+		try:
+			with open(filename, "r", encoding="utf-8") as file:
+				xhtml = file.read()
+				dom = se.easy_xml.EasyXmlTree(xhtml)
+
+				# Save any `alt` and `title` attributes because we may be interested in their contents
+				for node in dom.xpath("//*[@alt or @title]"):
+					for _, value in node.attrs.items():
+						xhtml = xhtml + f" {value} "
+
+				# Strip tags
+				xhtml = regex.sub(r"<[^>]+?>", " ", xhtml)
+
+				for character in regex.findall(unusual_character_set, xhtml):
+					if character in unusual_characters:
+						unusual_characters[character] = unusual_characters[character] + len(character)
+					else:
+						unusual_characters[character] = len(character)
+
+		except FileNotFoundError:
+			se.print_error(f"Couldn’t open file: [path][link=file://{filename}]{filename}[/][/].", plain_output=plain_output)
+			return_code = se.InvalidInputException.code
+
+		except se.SeException as ex:
+			se.print_error(str(ex) + f" File: [path][link=file://{filename}]{filename}[/][/].", plain_output=plain_output)
+			return_code = ex.code
 
 	# Sort and prepare the output
 	lines = []