diff --git a/lib/aoc.sh b/lib/aoc.sh
index f546a2b..3c84954 100755
--- a/lib/aoc.sh
+++ b/lib/aoc.sh
@@ -26,8 +26,11 @@ echo "Extracting example code blocks..."
 # extract example code blocks
 cat README.md |
   sed -n '/\[code\]/,/\[\/code\]/p' | # extract code blocks
-  sed '/^\s*$/d' | # remove empty lines
-  sed '/^\[\/code\]/d' | # remove closing bracket
+  sed '/\[code\]/{n;d}' | # remove (blank) lines after opening bracket
+  tac | # reverse line order
+  sed '/\[\/code\]/{n;d}' | # remove (blank) lines after closing brackets (preceding blank lines in normal order)
+  tac | # reverse line order again
+  sed '/^\[\/code\]/d' | # remove closing brackets
   sed 's/^    //' | # remove indentation
   csplit - --suppress-matched --elide-empty-files --prefix='input/example' --suffix='%d' '/\[code\]/' '{*}'
 echo "done."