diff --git a/swash/processing/read_swash.py b/swash/processing/read_swash.py
index 1d1da2c..f101d4a 100644
--- a/swash/processing/read_swash.py
+++ b/swash/processing/read_swash.py
@@ -6,25 +6,23 @@ def read_nohead(path):
         return file.read()
 
 
-def read_nohead_scalar(path, n):
+def read_reshape(path, shape):
     return np.asarray(read_nohead(path).split(), dtype=np.float64).reshape(
-        (-1, n)
+        shape
     )
 
 
+def read_nohead_scalar(path, n):
+    return read_reshape(path, (-1, n))
+
+
 def read_nohead_k(path, n, k):
-    return np.asarray(read_nohead(path).split(), dtype=np.float64).reshape(
-        (-1, n, k)
-    )
+    return read_reshape(path, (-1, n, k))
 
 
 def read_nohead_vect(path, n):
-    return np.asarray(read_nohead(path).split(), dtype=np.float64).reshape(
-        (-1, n, 2)
-    )
+    return read_reshape(path, (-1, n, 2))
 
 
 def read_nohead_vect_k(path, n):
-    return np.asarray(read_nohead(path).split(), dtype=np.float64).reshape(
-        (-1, n, 2, k)
-    )
+    return read_reshape(path, (-1, n, 2, k))