diff --git a/cmd/outputs.go b/cmd/outputs.go
index 0683ff53d41..fa50cd1530f 100644
--- a/cmd/outputs.go
+++ b/cmd/outputs.go
@@ -127,7 +127,7 @@ func createOutputs(
 	result := make([]output.Output, 0, len(outputs))
 
 	for _, outputFullArg := range outputs {
-		outputType, outputArg := parseOutputArgument(outputFullArg)
+		outputType, outputArg, _ := strings.Cut(outputFullArg, "=")
 		outputConstructor, ok := outputConstructors[outputType]
 		if !ok {
 			return nil, fmt.Errorf(
@@ -173,15 +173,3 @@ func createOutputs(
 
 	return result, nil
 }
-
-func parseOutputArgument(s string) (t, arg string) {
-	parts := strings.SplitN(s, "=", 2)
-	switch len(parts) {
-	case 0:
-		return "", ""
-	case 1:
-		return parts[0], ""
-	default:
-		return parts[0], parts[1]
-	}
-}
diff --git a/cmd/tests/cmd_run_test.go b/cmd/tests/cmd_run_test.go
index dc49e65217e..233825c008f 100644
--- a/cmd/tests/cmd_run_test.go
+++ b/cmd/tests/cmd_run_test.go
@@ -476,11 +476,11 @@ func TestSubMetricThresholdNoData(t *testing.T) {
 func getTestServer(tb testing.TB, routes map[string]http.Handler) *httptest.Server {
 	mux := http.HandlerFunc(func(resp http.ResponseWriter, req *http.Request) {
 		for methodAndRoute, handler := range routes {
-			methodRouteTuple := strings.SplitN(methodAndRoute, " ", 2)
-			regex, err := regexp.Compile(methodRouteTuple[1])
+			method, route, _ := strings.Cut(methodAndRoute, " ")
+			routeRegexp, err := regexp.Compile(route)
 			require.NoError(tb, err)
 
-			if req.Method == methodRouteTuple[0] && regex.Match([]byte(req.URL.String())) {
+			if req.Method == method && routeRegexp.Match([]byte(req.URL.String())) {
 				handler.ServeHTTP(resp, req)
 				return
 			}
diff --git a/lib/execution_segment.go b/lib/execution_segment.go
index 7c469c81a4a..52256dfe653 100644
--- a/lib/execution_segment.go
+++ b/lib/execution_segment.go
@@ -108,9 +108,9 @@ func NewExecutionSegmentFromString(toStr string) (result *ExecutionSegment, err
 		toStr = "1" // an empty string means a full 0:1 execution segment
 	}
 	if strings.ContainsRune(toStr, ':') {
-		fromToStr := strings.SplitN(toStr, ":", 2)
-		toStr = fromToStr[1]
-		if from, err = stringToRat(fromToStr[0]); err != nil {
+		var fromStr string
+		fromStr, toStr, _ = strings.Cut(toStr, ":")
+		if from, err = stringToRat(fromStr); err != nil {
 			return nil, err
 		}
 	}
diff --git a/lib/models.go b/lib/models.go
index 30cb6b13b72..64f4e0f0335 100644
--- a/lib/models.go
+++ b/lib/models.go
@@ -59,16 +59,16 @@ func (s Stage) MarshalJSON() ([]byte, error) {
 // UnmarshalText implements the encoding.TextUnmarshaler interface
 func (s *Stage) UnmarshalText(b []byte) error {
 	var stage Stage
-	parts := strings.SplitN(string(b), ":", 2)
-	if len(parts) > 0 && parts[0] != "" {
-		d, err := time.ParseDuration(parts[0])
+	durStr, targetStr, _ := strings.Cut(string(b), ":")
+	if durStr != "" {
+		d, err := time.ParseDuration(durStr)
 		if err != nil {
 			return err
 		}
 		stage.Duration = types.NullDurationFrom(d)
 	}
-	if len(parts) > 1 && parts[1] != "" {
-		t, err := strconv.ParseInt(parts[1], 10, 64)
+	if targetStr != "" {
+		t, err := strconv.ParseInt(targetStr, 10, 64)
 		if err != nil {
 			return err
 		}
diff --git a/lib/trace/otel.go b/lib/trace/otel.go
index 30e5d76685e..447592236c0 100644
--- a/lib/trace/otel.go
+++ b/lib/trace/otel.go
@@ -175,9 +175,9 @@ func tracerProviderParamsFromConfigLine(line string) (tracerProviderParams, erro
 		return params, nil
 	}
 
-	parts := strings.SplitN(line, "=", 2)
-	if parts[0] != "otel" {
-		return params, fmt.Errorf("%w %q", ErrInvalidTracesOutput, parts[0])
+	traceOutput, _, _ := strings.Cut(line, "=")
+	if traceOutput != "otel" {
+		return params, fmt.Errorf("%w %q", ErrInvalidTracesOutput, traceOutput)
 	}
 
 	tokens, err := strvals.Parse(line)
diff --git a/lib/types/dns.go b/lib/types/dns.go
index baad4956527..d4be84fb6a8 100644
--- a/lib/types/dns.go
+++ b/lib/types/dns.go
@@ -198,11 +198,11 @@ func (c *DNSConfig) UnmarshalText(text []byte) error {
 	values := strings.Split(string(text), ",")
 	params := make(map[string]string, len(values))
 	for _, value := range values {
-		args := strings.SplitN(value, "=", 2)
-		if len(args) != 2 {
+		k, v, _ := strings.Cut(value, "=")
+		if v == "" {
 			return fmt.Errorf("no value for key %s", value)
 		}
-		params[args[0]] = args[1]
+		params[k] = v
 	}
 	return c.unmarshal(params)
 }
diff --git a/lib/types/ipblock.go b/lib/types/ipblock.go
index 68487698576..f7c85939a8d 100644
--- a/lib/types/ipblock.go
+++ b/lib/types/ipblock.go
@@ -41,8 +41,8 @@ func getIPBlock(s string) (*ipBlock, error) {
 }
 
 func ipBlockFromRange(s string) (*ipBlock, error) {
-	ss := strings.SplitN(s, "-", 2)
-	ip0, ip1 := net.ParseIP(ss[0]), net.ParseIP(ss[1])
+	ip0Str, ip1Str, _ := strings.Cut(s, "-")
+	ip0, ip1 := net.ParseIP(ip0Str), net.ParseIP(ip1Str)
 	if ip0 == nil || ip1 == nil {
 		return nil, errors.New("wrong IP range format: " + s)
 	}
diff --git a/loader/loader.go b/loader/loader.go
index 368f79b2924..df33435e6fc 100644
--- a/loader/loader.go
+++ b/loader/loader.go
@@ -83,15 +83,15 @@ func Resolve(pwd *url.URL, moduleSpecifier string) (*url.URL, error) {
 
 func resolveFilePath(pwd *url.URL, moduleSpecifier string) (*url.URL, error) {
 	if pwd.Opaque != "" { // this is a loader reference
-		parts := strings.SplitN(pwd.Opaque, "/", 2)
+		base, dir, _ := strings.Cut(pwd.Opaque, "/")
 		if moduleSpecifier[0] == '/' {
-			return &url.URL{Opaque: path.Join(parts[0], moduleSpecifier)}, nil
+			return &url.URL{Opaque: path.Join(base, moduleSpecifier)}, nil
 		}
-		return &url.URL{Opaque: path.Join(parts[0], path.Join(path.Dir(parts[1]+"/"), moduleSpecifier))}, nil
+		return &url.URL{Opaque: path.Join(base, path.Join(path.Dir(dir+"/"), moduleSpecifier))}, nil
 	}
 
 	// The file is in format like C:/something/path.js. But this will be decoded as scheme `C`
-	// ... which is not what we want we want it to be decode as file:///C:/something/path.js
+	// ... which is not what we want, we want it to be decoded as file:///C:/something/path.js
 	if filepath.VolumeName(moduleSpecifier) != "" {
 		moduleSpecifier = "/" + moduleSpecifier
 	}
diff --git a/log/file.go b/log/file.go
index 06ebcf1ce5f..626423df683 100644
--- a/log/file.go
+++ b/log/file.go
@@ -42,8 +42,8 @@ func FileHookFromConfigLine(
 		loglines:       make(chan []byte, fileHookBufferSize),
 	}
 
-	parts := strings.SplitN(line, "=", 2)
-	if parts[0] != "file" {
+	logOutput, _, _ := strings.Cut(line, "=")
+	if logOutput != "file" {
 		return nil, fmt.Errorf("logfile configuration should be in the form `file=path-to-local-file` but is `%s`", line)
 	}
 	if err := hook.parseArgs(line); err != nil {
diff --git a/log/loki.go b/log/loki.go
index 2a4d353307e..2a3c9bc1fed 100644
--- a/log/loki.go
+++ b/log/loki.go
@@ -55,8 +55,8 @@ func LokiFromConfigLine(fallbackLogger logrus.FieldLogger, line string) (AsyncHo
 	h.fallbackLogger = fallbackLogger
 
 	if line != "loki" {
-		parts := strings.SplitN(line, "=", 2)
-		if parts[0] != "loki" {
+		logOutput, _, _ := strings.Cut(line, "=")
+		if logOutput != "loki" {
 			return nil, fmt.Errorf("loki configuration should be in the form `loki=url-to-push` but is `%s`", line)
 		}
 
diff --git a/metrics/engine/engine.go b/metrics/engine/engine.go
index 55f0b87fdb7..18567c2712e 100644
--- a/metrics/engine/engine.go
+++ b/metrics/engine/engine.go
@@ -62,19 +62,17 @@ func (me *MetricsEngine) CreateIngester() *OutputIngester {
 }
 
 func (me *MetricsEngine) getThresholdMetricOrSubmetric(name string) (*metrics.Metric, error) {
-	// TODO: replace with strings.Cut after Go 1.18
-	nameParts := strings.SplitN(name, "{", 2)
+	metricDefinition, submetricDefinition, _ := strings.Cut(name, "{")
 
-	metric := me.registry.Get(nameParts[0])
+	metric := me.registry.Get(metricDefinition)
 	if metric == nil {
-		return nil, fmt.Errorf("metric '%s' does not exist in the script", nameParts[0])
+		return nil, fmt.Errorf("metric '%s' does not exist in the script", metricDefinition)
 	}
 
-	if len(nameParts) == 1 { // no sub-metric
+	if len(submetricDefinition) == 0 { // no sub-metric
 		return metric, nil
 	}
 
-	submetricDefinition := nameParts[1]
 	if submetricDefinition[len(submetricDefinition)-1] != '}' {
 		return nil, fmt.Errorf("missing ending bracket, sub-metric format needs to be 'metric{key:value}'")
 	}
diff --git a/metrics/metric.go b/metrics/metric.go
index d12a5b5a16a..902d6aff31e 100644
--- a/metrics/metric.go
+++ b/metrics/metric.go
@@ -48,15 +48,15 @@ func (m *Metric) AddSubmetric(keyValues string) (*Submetric, error) {
 		if kv == "" {
 			continue
 		}
-		parts := strings.SplitN(kv, ":", 2)
+		k, v, _ := strings.Cut(kv, ":")
 
-		key := strings.Trim(strings.TrimSpace(parts[0]), `"'`)
-		if len(parts) != 2 {
+		key := strings.Trim(strings.TrimSpace(k), `"'`)
+		if v == "" {
 			tags = tags.With(key, "")
 			continue
 		}
 
-		value := strings.Trim(strings.TrimSpace(parts[1]), `"'`)
+		value := strings.Trim(strings.TrimSpace(v), `"'`)
 		tags = tags.With(key, value)
 	}
 
@@ -133,9 +133,9 @@ func ParseMetricName(name string) (string, []string, error) {
 
 	// For each tag definition, ensure it is correctly formed
 	for i, t := range tags {
-		keyValue := strings.SplitN(t, ":", 2)
+		_, value, _ := strings.Cut(t, ":")
 
-		if len(keyValue) != 2 || keyValue[1] == "" {
+		if value == "" {
 			return "", nil, fmt.Errorf("%w, metric %q tag expression is malformed", ErrMetricNameParsing, t)
 		}
 
diff --git a/metrics/thresholds_parser.go b/metrics/thresholds_parser.go
index 47067c51dbf..de0c4b0f0c6 100644
--- a/metrics/thresholds_parser.go
+++ b/metrics/thresholds_parser.go
@@ -142,9 +142,9 @@ var operatorTokens = [7]string{ //nolint:gochecknoglobals
 // their spaces.
 func scanThresholdExpression(input string) (string, string, string, error) {
 	for _, op := range operatorTokens {
-		substrings := strings.SplitN(input, op, 2)
-		if len(substrings) == 2 {
-			return strings.TrimSpace(substrings[0]), op, strings.TrimSpace(substrings[1]), nil
+		left, right, _ := strings.Cut(input, op)
+		if right != "" {
+			return strings.TrimSpace(left), op, strings.TrimSpace(right), nil
 		}
 	}
 
diff --git a/output/csv/config.go b/output/csv/config.go
index 648f9d46277..5f5afa91b0a 100644
--- a/output/csv/config.go
+++ b/output/csv/config.go
@@ -69,22 +69,22 @@ func ParseArg(arg string) (Config, error) {
 
 	pairs := strings.Split(arg, ",")
 	for _, pair := range pairs {
-		r := strings.SplitN(pair, "=", 2)
-		if len(r) != 2 {
+		k, v, _ := strings.Cut(pair, "=")
+		if v == "" {
 			return c, fmt.Errorf("couldn't parse %q as argument for csv output", arg)
 		}
-		switch r[0] {
+		switch k {
 		case "saveInterval":
-			err := c.SaveInterval.UnmarshalText([]byte(r[1]))
+			err := c.SaveInterval.UnmarshalText([]byte(v))
 			if err != nil {
 				return c, err
 			}
 		case "fileName":
-			c.FileName = null.StringFrom(r[1])
+			c.FileName = null.StringFrom(v)
 		case "timeFormat":
-			c.TimeFormat = null.StringFrom(r[1])
+			c.TimeFormat = null.StringFrom(v)
 		default:
-			return c, fmt.Errorf("unknown key %q as argument for csv output", r[0])
+			return c, fmt.Errorf("unknown key %q as argument for csv output", k)
 		}
 	}
 
diff --git a/output/influxdb/util.go b/output/influxdb/util.go
index 37478182905..07d1aba235b 100644
--- a/output/influxdb/util.go
+++ b/output/influxdb/util.go
@@ -63,12 +63,9 @@ func checkDuplicatedTypeDefinitions(fieldKinds map[string]FieldKind, tag string)
 func MakeFieldKinds(conf Config) (map[string]FieldKind, error) {
 	fieldKinds := make(map[string]FieldKind)
 	for _, tag := range conf.TagsAsFields {
-		var fieldName, fieldType string
-		s := strings.SplitN(tag, ":", 2)
-		if len(s) == 1 {
-			fieldName, fieldType = s[0], "string"
-		} else {
-			fieldName, fieldType = s[0], s[1]
+		fieldName, fieldType, _ := strings.Cut(tag, ":")
+		if fieldType == "" {
+			fieldType = "string"
 		}
 
 		err := checkDuplicatedTypeDefinitions(fieldKinds, fieldName)