diff --git a/.github/scripts/verify-examples.pl b/.github/scripts/verify-examples.pl
index 5853f46b56..27c4de6db8 100755
--- a/.github/scripts/verify-examples.pl
+++ b/.github/scripts/verify-examples.pl
@@ -23,12 +23,15 @@
 #
 ###########################################################################
 
+use strict;
+use warnings;
+
 my @files = @ARGV;
 my $cfile = "test.c";
 my $check = "./scripts/checksrc.pl";
-my $error;
+my $error = 0;
 
-if($files[0] eq "-h") {
+if(!@files || $files[0] eq "-h") {
     print "Usage: verify-examples [markdown pages]\n";
     exit;
 }
@@ -82,7 +85,7 @@ sub extract {
     return ($fail ? 0 : $l);
 }
 
-my $count;
+my $count = 0;
 for my $m (@files) {
     #print "Verify $m\n";
     my $out = extract($m);