diff --git a/src/calibre/ebooks/rtf2xml/combine_borders.py b/src/calibre/ebooks/rtf2xml/combine_borders.py
index 71cd822e30..c0b7185c9b 100755
--- a/src/calibre/ebooks/rtf2xml/combine_borders.py
+++ b/src/calibre/ebooks/rtf2xml/combine_borders.py
@@ -16,7 +16,9 @@
 #                                                                       #
 #########################################################################
 import os, tempfile
+
 from calibre.ebooks.rtf2xml import copy
+
 class CombineBorders:
     """Combine borders in RTF tokens to make later processing easier"""
     def __init__(self,
@@ -32,28 +34,31 @@ class CombineBorders:
         self.__state = 'default'
         self.__bord_pos = 'default'
         self.__bord_att = []
+
     def found_bd(self, line):
         #cw<bd<bor-t-r-vi
         self.__state = 'border'
         self.__bord_pos = line[6:16]
+
     def __default_func(self, line):
         #cw<bd<bor-t-r-vi
         if self.__first_five == 'cw<bd':
             self.found_bd(line)
             return ''
         return line
+
     def end_border(self, line, write_obj):
-        joiner = "|"
-        border_string = joiner.join(self.__bord_att)
+        border_string = "|".join(self.__bord_att)
         self.__bord_att = []
         write_obj.write('cw<bd<%s<nu<%s\n' % (self.__bord_pos,
-        border_string))
+                                                border_string))
         self.__state = 'default'
         self.__bord_string = ''
         if self.__first_five == 'cw<bd':
             self. found_bd(line)
         else:
             write_obj.write(line)
+
     def add_to_border_desc(self, line):
         #cw<bt<bdr-hair__<nu<true
         #cw<bt<bdr-linew<nu<0.50
@@ -65,26 +70,22 @@ class CombineBorders:
         else:
             num = ':' + num
         self.__bord_att.append(border_desc + num)
+
     def __border_func(self, line, write_obj):
         if self.__first_five != 'cw<bt':
             self.end_border(line, write_obj)
         else:
             self.add_to_border_desc(line)
+
     def combine_borders(self):
-        read_obj = open(self.__file, 'r')
-        write_obj = open(self.__write_to, 'w')
-        line_to_read = 'dummy'
-        while line_to_read:
-            line_to_read = read_obj.readline()
-            line = line_to_read
-            self.__first_five = line[0:5]
-            if self.__state == 'border':
-                self.__border_func(line, write_obj)
-            else:
-                to_print = self.__default_func(line)
-                write_obj.write(to_print)
-        read_obj.close()
-        write_obj.close()
+        with open(self.__file, 'r') as read_obj, 
+                open(self.__write_to, 'w') as write_obj:
+           for line in read_obj:
+                self.__first_five = line[0:5]
+                if self.__state == 'border':
+                    self.__border_func(line, write_obj)
+                else:
+                    write_obj.write(self.__default_func(line))
         copy_obj = copy.Copy(bug_handler = self.__bug_handler)
         if self.__copy:
             copy_obj.copy_file(self.__write_to, "combine_borders.data")