diff --git a/src/basic/audit-util.c b/src/basic/audit-util.c
index 4f50339d6d..0d664b0d8b 100644
--- a/src/basic/audit-util.c
+++ b/src/basic/audit-util.c
@@ -37,7 +37,7 @@ static int audit_read_field(const PidRef *pid, const char *field, char **ret) {
 
         _cleanup_free_ char *s = NULL;
         bool enoent = false;
-        r = read_virtual_file(p, SIZE_MAX, &s, /* ret_size= */ NULL);
+        r = read_full_virtual_file(p, &s, /* ret_size= */ NULL);
         if (r == -ENOENT) {
                 if (proc_mounted() == 0)
                         return -ENOSYS;
diff --git a/src/basic/fileio.c b/src/basic/fileio.c
index b3fdc05c12..c5eedc312b 100644
--- a/src/basic/fileio.c
+++ b/src/basic/fileio.c
@@ -889,74 +889,46 @@ int script_get_shebang_interpreter(const char *path, char **ret) {
         return 0;
 }
 
-/**
- * Retrieve one field from a file like /proc/self/status.  pattern
- * should not include whitespace or the delimiter (':'). pattern matches only
- * the beginning of a line. Whitespace before ':' is skipped. Whitespace and
- * zeros after the ':' will be skipped. field must be freed afterwards.
- * terminator specifies the terminating characters of the field value (not
- * included in the value).
- */
-int get_proc_field(const char *filename, const char *pattern, const char *terminator, char **field) {
-        _cleanup_free_ char *status = NULL;
-        char *t, *f;
+int get_proc_field(const char *path, const char *key, char **ret) {
+        _cleanup_fclose_ FILE *f = NULL;
         int r;
 
-        assert(terminator);
-        assert(filename);
-        assert(pattern);
-        assert(field);
+        /* Retrieve one field from a file like /proc/self/status. "key" matches the beginning of the line
+         * and should not include whitespace or the delimiter (':').
+         * Whitespaces after the ':' will be skipped. Only the first element is returned
+         * (i.e. for /proc/meminfo line "MemTotal: 1024 kB" -> return "1024"). */
 
-        r = read_full_virtual_file(filename, &status, NULL);
+        assert(path);
+        assert(key);
+
+        r = fopen_unlocked(path, "re", &f);
+        if (r == -ENOENT && proc_mounted() == 0)
+                return -ENOSYS;
         if (r < 0)
                 return r;
 
-        t = status;
+        for (;;) {
+                 _cleanup_free_ char *line = NULL;
 
-        do {
-                bool pattern_ok;
+                 r = read_line(f, LONG_LINE_MAX, &line);
+                 if (r < 0)
+                         return r;
+                 if (r == 0)
+                         return -ENODATA;
 
-                do {
-                        t = strstr(t, pattern);
-                        if (!t)
-                                return -ENOENT;
+                 char *l = startswith(line, key);
+                 if (l && *l == ':') {
+                         if (ret) {
+                                 char *s = strdupcspn(skip_leading_chars(l + 1, " \t"), WHITESPACE);
+                                 if (!s)
+                                         return -ENOMEM;
 
-                        /* Check that pattern occurs in beginning of line. */
-                        pattern_ok = (t == status || t[-1] == '\n');
+                                 *ret = s;
+                         }
 
-                        t += strlen(pattern);
-
-                } while (!pattern_ok);
-
-                t += strspn(t, " \t");
-                if (!*t)
-                        return -ENOENT;
-
-        } while (*t != ':');
-
-        t++;
-
-        if (*t) {
-                t += strspn(t, " \t");
-
-                /* Also skip zeros, because when this is used for
-                 * capabilities, we don't want the zeros. This way the
-                 * same capability set always maps to the same string,
-                 * irrespective of the total capability set size. For
-                 * other numbers it shouldn't matter. */
-                t += strspn(t, "0");
-                /* Back off one char if there's nothing but whitespace
-                   and zeros */
-                if (!*t || isspace(*t))
-                        t--;
+                         return 0;
+                 }
         }
-
-        f = strdupcspn(t, terminator);
-        if (!f)
-                return -ENOMEM;
-
-        *field = f;
-        return 0;
 }
 
 DIR* xopendirat(int dir_fd, const char *name, int flags) {
diff --git a/src/basic/fileio.h b/src/basic/fileio.h
index 49da9a677c..eff9880292 100644
--- a/src/basic/fileio.h
+++ b/src/basic/fileio.h
@@ -98,7 +98,7 @@ int verify_file_at(int dir_fd, const char *fn, const char *blob, bool accept_ext
 
 int script_get_shebang_interpreter(const char *path, char **ret);
 
-int get_proc_field(const char *filename, const char *pattern, const char *terminator, char **field);
+int get_proc_field(const char *path, const char *key, char **ret);
 
 DIR* xopendirat(int dir_fd, const char *name, int flags);
 
diff --git a/src/basic/mountpoint-util.c b/src/basic/mountpoint-util.c
index 6fc5e52a8e..23653160a0 100644
--- a/src/basic/mountpoint-util.c
+++ b/src/basic/mountpoint-util.c
@@ -141,7 +141,6 @@ int name_to_handle_at_try_fid(
 
 static int fd_fdinfo_mnt_id(int fd, const char *filename, int flags, int *ret_mnt_id) {
         char path[STRLEN("/proc/self/fdinfo/") + DECIMAL_STR_MAX(int)];
-        _cleanup_free_ char *fdinfo = NULL;
         _cleanup_close_ int subfd = -EBADF;
         int r;
 
@@ -158,19 +157,13 @@ static int fd_fdinfo_mnt_id(int fd, const char *filename, int flags, int *ret_mn
                 xsprintf(path, "/proc/self/fdinfo/%i", subfd);
         }
 
-        r = read_full_virtual_file(path, &fdinfo, NULL);
+        _cleanup_free_ char *p = NULL;
+        r = get_proc_field(path, "mnt_id", &p);
         if (r == -ENOENT)
-                return proc_fd_enoent_errno();
+                return -EBADF;
         if (r < 0)
                 return r;
 
-        char *p = find_line_startswith(fdinfo, "mnt_id:");
-        if (!p)
-                return -EBADMSG;
-
-        p = skip_leading_chars(p, /* bad = */ NULL);
-        p[strcspn(p, WHITESPACE)] = 0;
-
         return safe_atoi(p, ret_mnt_id);
 }
 
diff --git a/src/basic/pidfd-util.c b/src/basic/pidfd-util.c
index edd2848d07..52a371ba1a 100644
--- a/src/basic/pidfd-util.c
+++ b/src/basic/pidfd-util.c
@@ -89,26 +89,21 @@ static int pidfd_get_info(int fd, struct pidfd_info *info) {
 
 static int pidfd_get_pid_fdinfo(int fd, pid_t *ret) {
         char path[STRLEN("/proc/self/fdinfo/") + DECIMAL_STR_MAX(int)];
-        _cleanup_free_ char *fdinfo = NULL;
+        _cleanup_free_ char *p = NULL;
         int r;
 
         assert(fd >= 0);
 
         xsprintf(path, "/proc/self/fdinfo/%i", fd);
 
-        r = read_full_virtual_file(path, &fdinfo, NULL);
+        r = get_proc_field(path, "Pid", &p);
         if (r == -ENOENT)
-                return proc_fd_enoent_errno();
+                return -EBADF;
+        if (r == -ENODATA) /* not a pidfd? */
+                return -ENOTTY;
         if (r < 0)
                 return r;
 
-        char *p = find_line_startswith(fdinfo, "Pid:");
-        if (!p)
-                return -ENOTTY; /* not a pidfd? */
-
-        p = skip_leading_chars(p, /* bad = */ NULL);
-        p[strcspn(p, WHITESPACE)] = 0;
-
         if (streq(p, "0"))
                 return -EREMOTE; /* PID is in foreign PID namespace? */
         if (streq(p, "-1"))
diff --git a/src/basic/process-util.c b/src/basic/process-util.c
index d3c43c3ba4..945d95d7d6 100644
--- a/src/basic/process-util.c
+++ b/src/basic/process-util.c
@@ -507,48 +507,10 @@ int get_process_exe(pid_t pid, char **ret) {
         return 0;
 }
 
-static int get_process_id(pid_t pid, const char *field, uid_t *ret) {
-        _cleanup_fclose_ FILE *f = NULL;
-        const char *p;
+int pid_get_uid(pid_t pid, uid_t *ret) {
         int r;
 
-        assert(field);
-        assert(ret);
-
-        if (pid < 0)
-                return -EINVAL;
-
-        p = procfs_file_alloca(pid, "status");
-        r = fopen_unlocked(p, "re", &f);
-        if (r == -ENOENT)
-                return -ESRCH;
-        if (r < 0)
-                return r;
-
-        for (;;) {
-                _cleanup_free_ char *line = NULL;
-                char *l;
-
-                r = read_stripped_line(f, LONG_LINE_MAX, &line);
-                if (r < 0)
-                        return r;
-                if (r == 0)
-                        break;
-
-                l = startswith(line, field);
-                if (l) {
-                        l += strspn(l, WHITESPACE);
-
-                        l[strcspn(l, WHITESPACE)] = 0;
-
-                        return parse_uid(l, ret);
-                }
-        }
-
-        return -EIO;
-}
-
-int pid_get_uid(pid_t pid, uid_t *ret) {
+        assert(pid >= 0);
         assert(ret);
 
         if (pid == 0 || pid == getpid_cached()) {
@@ -556,7 +518,14 @@ int pid_get_uid(pid_t pid, uid_t *ret) {
                 return 0;
         }
 
-        return get_process_id(pid, "Uid:", ret);
+        _cleanup_free_ char *v = NULL;
+        r = procfs_file_get_field(pid, "status", "Uid", &v);
+        if (r == -ENOENT)
+                return -ESRCH;
+        if (r < 0)
+                return r;
+
+        return parse_uid(v, ret);
 }
 
 int pidref_get_uid(const PidRef *pid, uid_t *ret) {
@@ -589,14 +558,24 @@ int pidref_get_uid(const PidRef *pid, uid_t *ret) {
 }
 
 int get_process_gid(pid_t pid, gid_t *ret) {
+        int r;
+
+        assert(pid >= 0);
+        assert(ret);
 
         if (pid == 0 || pid == getpid_cached()) {
                 *ret = getgid();
                 return 0;
         }
 
-        assert_cc(sizeof(uid_t) == sizeof(gid_t));
-        return get_process_id(pid, "Gid:", ret);
+        _cleanup_free_ char *v = NULL;
+        r = procfs_file_get_field(pid, "status", "Gid", &v);
+        if (r == -ENOENT)
+                return -ESRCH;
+        if (r < 0)
+                return r;
+
+        return parse_gid(v, ret);
 }
 
 int get_process_cwd(pid_t pid, char **ret) {
@@ -862,15 +841,12 @@ int pidref_get_start_time(const PidRef *pid, usec_t *ret) {
 
 int get_process_umask(pid_t pid, mode_t *ret) {
         _cleanup_free_ char *m = NULL;
-        const char *p;
         int r;
 
         assert(pid >= 0);
         assert(ret);
 
-        p = procfs_file_alloca(pid, "status");
-
-        r = get_proc_field(p, "Umask", WHITESPACE, &m);
+        r = procfs_file_get_field(pid, "status", "Umask", &m);
         if (r == -ENOENT)
                 return -ESRCH;
         if (r < 0)
@@ -2071,17 +2047,14 @@ _noreturn_ void freeze(void) {
 
 int get_process_threads(pid_t pid) {
         _cleanup_free_ char *t = NULL;
-        const char *p;
         int n, r;
 
         if (pid < 0)
                 return -EINVAL;
 
-        p = procfs_file_alloca(pid, "status");
-
-        r = get_proc_field(p, "Threads", WHITESPACE, &t);
+        r = procfs_file_get_field(pid, "status", "Threads", &t);
         if (r == -ENOENT)
-                return proc_mounted() == 0 ? -ENOSYS : -ESRCH;
+                return -ESRCH;
         if (r < 0)
                 return r;
 
diff --git a/src/basic/process-util.h b/src/basic/process-util.h
index fd24ee41ce..9ae36cf609 100644
--- a/src/basic/process-util.h
+++ b/src/basic/process-util.h
@@ -12,6 +12,8 @@
 #include <sys/types.h>
 
 #include "alloc-util.h"
+#include "assert-util.h"
+#include "fileio.h"
 #include "format-util.h"
 #include "macro.h"
 #include "pidref.h"
@@ -22,16 +24,20 @@
                 pid_t _pid_ = (pid);                                    \
                 const char *_field_ = (field);                          \
                 char *_r_;                                              \
-                if (_pid_ == 0) {                                       \
-                        _r_ = newa(char, STRLEN("/proc/self/") + strlen(_field_) + 1); \
-                        strcpy(stpcpy(_r_, "/proc/self/"), _field_);    \
-                } else {                                                \
+                if (_pid_ == 0)                                         \
+                        _r_ = strjoina("/proc/self/", _field_);         \
+                else {                                                  \
+                        assert(_pid_ > 0);                              \
                         _r_ = newa(char, STRLEN("/proc/") + DECIMAL_STR_MAX(pid_t) + 1 + strlen(_field_) + 1); \
                         sprintf(_r_, "/proc/" PID_FMT "/%s", _pid_, _field_); \
                 }                                                       \
                 (const char*) _r_;                                      \
         })
 
+static inline int procfs_file_get_field(pid_t pid, const char *name, const char *key, char **ret) {
+        return get_proc_field(procfs_file_alloca(pid, name), key, ret);
+}
+
 typedef enum ProcessCmdlineFlags {
         PROCESS_CMDLINE_COMM_FALLBACK = 1 << 0,
         PROCESS_CMDLINE_USE_LOCALE    = 1 << 1,
diff --git a/src/basic/rlimit-util.c b/src/basic/rlimit-util.c
index 5dc8b56a07..0032f23c26 100644
--- a/src/basic/rlimit-util.c
+++ b/src/basic/rlimit-util.c
@@ -471,12 +471,12 @@ int pid_getrlimit(pid_t pid, int resource, struct rlimit *ret) {
         const char *p = procfs_file_alloca(pid, "limits");
         _cleanup_free_ char *limits = NULL;
 
-        r = read_full_virtual_file(p, &limits, NULL);
+        r = read_full_file(p, &limits, /* ret_size = */ NULL);
         if (r < 0)
                 return -EPERM; /* propagate original permission error if we can't access the limits file */
 
         _cleanup_strv_free_ char **l = NULL;
-        l = strv_split(limits, "\n");
+        l = strv_split_newlines(limits);
         if (!l)
                 return -ENOMEM;
 
diff --git a/src/basic/virt.c b/src/basic/virt.c
index 575ac917b0..4c5c5b3b9a 100644
--- a/src/basic/virt.c
+++ b/src/basic/virt.c
@@ -432,8 +432,8 @@ static Virtualization detect_vm_zvm(void) {
         _cleanup_free_ char *t = NULL;
         int r;
 
-        r = get_proc_field("/proc/sysinfo", "VM00 Control Program", WHITESPACE, &t);
-        if (r == -ENOENT)
+        r = get_proc_field("/proc/sysinfo", "VM00 Control Program", &t);
+        if (IN_SET(r, -ENOENT, -ENODATA))
                 return VIRTUALIZATION_NONE;
         if (r < 0)
                 return r;
@@ -655,7 +655,7 @@ Virtualization detect_container(void) {
         /* proot doesn't use PID namespacing, so we can just check if we have a matching tracer for this
          * invocation without worrying about it being elsewhere.
          */
-        r = get_proc_field("/proc/self/status", "TracerPid", WHITESPACE, &p);
+        r = get_proc_field("/proc/self/status", "TracerPid", &p);
         if (r < 0)
                 log_debug_errno(r, "Failed to read our own trace PID, ignoring: %m");
         else if (!streq(p, "0")) {
diff --git a/src/libsystemd/sd-bus/bus-creds.c b/src/libsystemd/sd-bus/bus-creds.c
index 1c6c5a545a..9e93712bfd 100644
--- a/src/libsystemd/sd-bus/bus-creds.c
+++ b/src/libsystemd/sd-bus/bus-creds.c
@@ -1060,7 +1060,7 @@ int bus_creds_add_more(sd_bus_creds *c, uint64_t mask, PidRef *pidref, pid_t tid
                 const char *p;
 
                 p = procfs_file_alloca(pidref->pid, "cmdline");
-                r = read_full_virtual_file(p, &c->cmdline, &c->cmdline_size);
+                r = read_full_file(p, &c->cmdline, &c->cmdline_size);
                 if (r == -ENOENT)
                         return -ESRCH;
                 if (r < 0) {
diff --git a/src/oom/oomd.c b/src/oom/oomd.c
index f49accd779..15cbb3a2c3 100644
--- a/src/oom/oomd.c
+++ b/src/oom/oomd.c
@@ -123,7 +123,7 @@ static int run(int argc, char *argv[]) {
         int fd = n == 1 ? SD_LISTEN_FDS_START : -EBADF;
 
         /* SwapTotal is always available in /proc/meminfo and defaults to 0, even on swap-disabled kernels. */
-        r = get_proc_field("/proc/meminfo", "SwapTotal", WHITESPACE, &swap);
+        r = get_proc_field("/proc/meminfo", "SwapTotal", &swap);
         if (r < 0)
                 return log_error_errno(r, "Failed to get SwapTotal from /proc/meminfo: %m");
 
diff --git a/src/shared/hibernate-util.c b/src/shared/hibernate-util.c
index 2aca788fb8..55ca4d5cf0 100644
--- a/src/shared/hibernate-util.c
+++ b/src/shared/hibernate-util.c
@@ -428,7 +428,7 @@ static int get_proc_meminfo_active(unsigned long long *ret) {
 
         assert(ret);
 
-        r = get_proc_field("/proc/meminfo", "Active(anon)", WHITESPACE, &active_str);
+        r = get_proc_field("/proc/meminfo", "Active(anon)", &active_str);
         if (r < 0)
                 return log_debug_errno(r, "Failed to retrieve Active(anon) from /proc/meminfo: %m");
 
diff --git a/src/socket-activate/socket-activate.c b/src/socket-activate/socket-activate.c
index e55f921c87..336d6fa754 100644
--- a/src/socket-activate/socket-activate.c
+++ b/src/socket-activate/socket-activate.c
@@ -49,7 +49,7 @@ static int add_epoll(int epoll_fd, int fd) {
         return 0;
 }
 
-static int open_sockets(int *ret_epoll_fd, bool accept) {
+static int open_sockets(int *ret_epoll_fd) {
         _cleanup_close_ int epoll_fd = -EBADF;
         int n, r, count = 0;
 
@@ -463,7 +463,7 @@ static int run(int argc, char **argv) {
 
         assert(!strv_isempty(exec_argv));
 
-        n = open_sockets(&epoll_fd, arg_accept);
+        n = open_sockets(&epoll_fd);
         if (n < 0)
                 return n;
         if (n == 0)
diff --git a/src/test/test-fileio.c b/src/test/test-fileio.c
index 67943b65ba..97eeb59afb 100644
--- a/src/test/test-fileio.c
+++ b/src/test/test-fileio.c
@@ -333,19 +333,19 @@ TEST(script_get_shebang_interpreter) {
 }
 
 TEST(status_field) {
-        _cleanup_free_ char *p = NULL, *s = NULL, *z = NULL;
+        _cleanup_free_ char *p = NULL, *s = NULL;
         unsigned long long total = 0, buffers = 0;
         int r;
 
-        r = get_proc_field("/proc/meminfo", "MemTotal", WHITESPACE, &p);
-        if (r != -ENOENT) {
+        r = get_proc_field("/proc/meminfo", "MemTotal", &p);
+        if (!IN_SET(r, -ENOENT, -ENOSYS)) {
                 assert_se(r == 0);
                 puts(p);
                 assert_se(safe_atollu(p, &total) == 0);
         }
 
-        r = get_proc_field("/proc/meminfo", "Buffers", WHITESPACE, &s);
-        if (r != -ENOENT) {
+        r = get_proc_field("/proc/meminfo", "Buffers", &s);
+        if (!IN_SET(r, -ENOENT, -ENOSYS)) {
                 assert_se(r == 0);
                 puts(s);
                 assert_se(safe_atollu(s, &buffers) == 0);
@@ -353,14 +353,6 @@ TEST(status_field) {
 
         if (p)
                 assert_se(buffers < total);
-
-        /* Seccomp should be a good test for field full of zeros. */
-        r = get_proc_field("/proc/meminfo", "Seccomp", WHITESPACE, &z);
-        if (r != -ENOENT) {
-                assert_se(r == 0);
-                puts(z);
-                assert_se(safe_atollu(z, &buffers) == 0);
-        }
 }
 
 TEST(read_one_line_file) {
diff --git a/src/test/test-seccomp.c b/src/test/test-seccomp.c
index d006e8b7b0..39a89d1e8d 100644
--- a/src/test/test-seccomp.c
+++ b/src/test/test-seccomp.c
@@ -382,7 +382,7 @@ TEST(protect_sysctl) {
                 return;
         }
 
-        assert_se(get_proc_field("/proc/self/status", "Seccomp", WHITESPACE, &seccomp) == 0);
+        assert_se(get_proc_field("/proc/self/status", "Seccomp", &seccomp) == 0);
         if (!streq(seccomp, "0"))
                 log_warning("Warning: seccomp filter detected, results may be unreliable for %s", __func__);