diff --git a/plugins/backtick_code_block.rb b/plugins/backtick_code_block.rb
index fcf4e83..9ee80c9 100644
--- a/plugins/backtick_code_block.rb
+++ b/plugins/backtick_code_block.rb
@@ -12,28 +12,30 @@ module BacktickCodeBlock
         markup = $1 || ''
         code = $2.to_s
 
-        options    = parse_markup(markup)
-        @lang      = options[:lang]
-        @title     = options[:title]
-        @lineos    = options[:lineos]
-        @marks     = options[:marks]
-        @url       = options[:url]
-        @link_text = options[:link_text]
-        @start     = options[:start]
+        opts     = parse_markup(markup)
+        @options = {
+          lang:      opts[:lang],
+          title:     opts[:title],
+          lineos:    opts[:lineos],
+          marks:     opts[:marks],
+          url:       opts[:url],
+          link_text: opts[:link_text] || 'link',
+          start:     opts[:start]     || 1,
+        }
         markup     = clean_markup(markup)
 
         if markup =~ AllOptions
-          @lang      ||= $1
-          @title     ||= $2
-          @url       ||= $3
-          @link_text ||= $4
+          @options[:lang]      ||= $1
+          @options[:title]     ||= $2
+          @options[:url]       ||= $3
+          @options[:link_text] ||= $4
         elsif markup =~ LangCaption
-          @lang      ||= $1
-          @title     ||= $2
+          @options[:lang]      ||= $1
+          @options[:title]     ||= $2
         else
-          @lang = 'plain'
+          @options[:lang]      ||= 'plain'
         end
-        highlight(code, @lang, {title: @title, url: @url, link_text: @link_text, linenos: @linenos, marks: @marks, start: @start })
+        highlight(code, @options)
       end
     end
   end
diff --git a/plugins/code_block.rb b/plugins/code_block.rb
index 09024ab..464b6c2 100644
--- a/plugins/code_block.rb
+++ b/plugins/code_block.rb
@@ -52,38 +52,38 @@ module Jekyll
     TitleUrl = /(\S[\S\s]*)\s+(https?:\/\/)(\S+)/i
     Title = /(\S[\S\s]*)/
     def initialize(tag_name, markup, tokens)
-      @title = nil
-      
-      options    = parse_markup(markup)
-      @lang      = options[:lang]
-      @title     = options[:title]
-      @lineos    = options[:lineos]
-      @marks     = options[:marks]
-      @url       = options[:url]
-      @link_text = options[:link_text]
-      @start     = options[:start]
+      opts     = parse_markup(markup)
+      @options = {
+        lang:      opts[:lang],
+        title:     opts[:title],
+        lineos:    opts[:lineos],
+        marks:     opts[:marks],
+        url:       opts[:url],
+        link_text: opts[:link_text] || 'link',
+        start:     opts[:start]     || 1,
+      }
       markup     = clean_markup(markup)
 
       if markup =~ TitleUrlLinkText
-        @title     ||= $1
-        @url       ||= $2 + $3
-        @link_text ||= $4
+        @options[:title]     ||= $1
+        @options[:url]       ||= $2 + $3
+        @options[:link_text] ||= $4
       elsif markup =~ TitleUrl
-        @title  ||= $1
-        @url    ||= $2 + $3
+        @options[:title]     ||= $1
+        @options[:url]       ||= $2 + $3
       elsif markup =~ Title
-        @title  ||= $1
+        @options[:title]     ||= $1
       end
       # grab lang from filename in title
-      if @title =~ /\S[\S\s]*\w+\.(\w+)/ && @lang.nil?
-        @lang ||= $1
+      if @options[:title] =~ /\S[\S\s]*\w+\.(\w+)/ && @options[:lang].nil?
+        @options[:lang]      ||= $1
       end
       super
     end
 
     def render(context)
       code = super.strip
-      code = highlight(code, @lang, {title: @title, url: @url, link_text: @link_text, start: @start, marks: @marks, linenos: @linenos})
+      code = highlight(code, @options)
       code = context['pygments_prefix'] + code if context['pygments_prefix']
       code = code + context['pygments_suffix'] if context['pygments_suffix']
       code
diff --git a/plugins/gist_tag.rb b/plugins/gist_tag.rb
index 4bbd79f..32ae9c8 100644
--- a/plugins/gist_tag.rb
+++ b/plugins/gist_tag.rb
@@ -30,7 +30,7 @@ module Jekyll
         lineos:    opts[:lineos],
         marks:     opts[:marks],
         url:       opts[:url],
-        link_text: opts[:link_text],
+        link_text: opts[:link_text] || 'Gist page',
         start:     opts[:start],
         end:       opts[:end]
       }
@@ -45,23 +45,15 @@ module Jekyll
         @options[:title]     ||= file.empty? ? "Gist: #{gist}" : file 
         @options[:url]       ||= "https://gist.github.com/#{gist}"
         @options[:lang]      ||= file.empty? ? @options[:lang] || '' : file.split('.')[-1]
-        @options[:link_text] ||= "Gist page"
         @options[:no_cache]    = @cache_disabled
         @options[:cache_path]  = @cache_disabled ? nil : get_cache_path(@cache_folder, get_cache_file(gist, file), @markup + @options.to_s)
 
         cache = read_cache(@options[:cache_path])
 
         unless cache
-          code     = get_gist_from_web(gist, file)
-          length   = code.lines.count
-          @start ||= 1
-          @end   ||= length
-          return "#{file} is #{length} lines long, cannot begin at line #{@start}" if @start > length
-          return "#{file} is #{length} lines long, cannot read beyond line #{@end}" if @end > length
-          if @start > 1 or @end < length
-            code = code.split(/\n/).slice(@start -1, @end + 1 - @start).join("\n")
-          end
-          code = highlight(code, @options[:lang], @options)
+          code = get_gist_from_web(gist, file)
+          code = get_range(code, @options[:start], @options[:end])
+          code = highlight(code, @options)
         end
         code
       else
diff --git a/plugins/include_code.rb b/plugins/include_code.rb
index 46593ac..21c3a41 100644
--- a/plugins/include_code.rb
+++ b/plugins/include_code.rb
@@ -29,23 +29,24 @@ module Jekyll
     include HighlightCode
     def initialize(tag_name, markup, tokens)
       @file = nil
-      @title = nil
       @title_old = nil
 
-      options    = parse_markup(markup)
-      @lang      = options[:lang]
-      @title     = options[:title]
-      @lineos    = options[:lineos]
-      @marks     = options[:marks]
-      @url       = options[:url]
-      @link_text = options[:link_text]
-      @start     = options[:start]
-      @end       = options[:end]
+      opts     = parse_markup(markup)
+      @options = {
+        lang:      opts[:lang],
+        title:     opts[:title],
+        lineos:    opts[:lineos],
+        marks:     opts[:marks],
+        url:       opts[:url],
+        link_text: opts[:link_text] || 'view raw',
+        start:     opts[:start]     || 1,
+        end:       opts[:end]
+      }
       markup     = clean_markup(markup)
 
       if markup.strip =~ /(^\S*\.\S+) *(.+)?/i
         @file = $1
-        @title ||= $2
+        @options[:title] ||= $2
       elsif markup.strip =~ /(.*?)(\S*\.\S+)\Z/i # Title before file is deprecated in 2.1
         @title_old = $1
         @file = $2
@@ -56,14 +57,14 @@ module Jekyll
     def render(context)
       code_dir = (context.registers[:site].config['code_dir'].sub(/^\//,'') || 'downloads/code')
       code_path = (Pathname.new(context.registers[:site].source) + code_dir).expand_path
-      file = code_path + @file
+      filepath = code_path + @file
 
       unless @title_old.nil?
-        @title ||= @title_old
+        @options[:title] ||= @title_old
         puts "### ------------ WARNING ------------ ###"
         puts "This include_code syntax is deprecated "
         puts "Correct syntax: path/to/file.ext [title]"
-        puts "Update include for #{file}"
+        puts "Update include for #{filepath}"
         puts "### --------------------------------- ###"
       end
       
@@ -72,29 +73,22 @@ module Jekyll
         return "Code directory '#{code_path}' cannot be a symlink"
       end
 
-      unless file.file?
-        puts "File #{file} could not be found"
-        return "File #{file} could not be found"
+      unless filepath.file?
+        puts "File #{filepath} could not be found"
+        return "File #{filepath} could not be found"
       end
 
       Dir.chdir(code_path) do
-        code = file.read
-        length = code.lines.count
-        @end   ||= length
-        @start ||= 1
-        return "#{file} is #{length} lines long, cannot begin at line #{@start}" if @start > length
-        return "#{file} is #{length} lines long, cannot read beyond line #{@end}" if @end > length
-        if @start > 1 or @end < length
-          code = code.split(/\n/).slice(@start -1, @end + 1 - @start).join("\n")
-        end
-        @lang = file.extname.sub('.','') unless @lang
-        title = @title ? "#{@title} (#{file.basename})" : file.basename
-        url = "/#{code_dir}/#{@file}"
-        highlight(code, @lang, {title: title, url: url, link_text: @link_text || 'view raw', start: @start, marks: @marks, linenos: @linenos })
+        @options[:lang]  ||= filepath.extname.sub('.','')
+        @options[:title]   = @options[:title] ? "#{@options[:title]} (#{filepath.basename})" : filepath.basename
+        @options[:url]   ||= "/#{code_dir}/#{@file}"
+
+        code = filepath.read
+        code = get_range(code, @options[:start], @options[:end])
+        highlight(code, @options)
       end
     end
   end
-
 end
 
 Liquid::Template.register_tag('include_code', Jekyll::IncludeCodeTag)
diff --git a/plugins/pygments_code.rb b/plugins/pygments_code.rb
index ff33a23..ebebb18 100644
--- a/plugins/pygments_code.rb
+++ b/plugins/pygments_code.rb
@@ -23,7 +23,8 @@ module HighlightCode
     puts $!,$@
   end
 
-  def highlight(code, lang, options = {})
+  def highlight(code, options = {})
+    lang = options[:lang]
     lang = 'ruby' if lang == 'ru'
     lang = 'objc' if lang == 'm'
     lang = 'perl' if lang == 'pl'
@@ -134,7 +135,7 @@ module HighlightCode
       end:          (endline.nil? ? nil : endline[1].to_i),
       link_text:    (link_text.nil? ? nil : link_text[3] || link_text[5] || link_text[6]) 
     }
-    opts.merge(get_range(input, opts[:start], opts[:end]))
+    opts.merge(parse_range(input, opts[:start], opts[:end]))
   end
 
   def clean_markup (input)
@@ -163,11 +164,24 @@ module HighlightCode
     marks
   end
 
-  def get_range (input, start, endline)
+  def parse_range (input, start, endline)
     if input =~ / *range:(\d+)-(\d+)/i
       start = $1.to_i
       endline = $2.to_i
     end
     {start: start, end: endline}
   end
+  
+  def get_range (code, start, endline)
+    length    = code.lines.count
+    start   ||= 1
+    endline ||= length
+    if start > 1 or endline < length
+      raise "#{filepath} is #{length} lines long, cannot begin at line #{start}" if start > length
+      raise "#{filepath} is #{length} lines long, cannot read beyond line #{endline}" if endline > length
+      code = code.split(/\n/).slice(start - 1, endline + 1 - start).join("\n")
+    end
+    code
+  end
+
 end