diff --git a/.clang-tidy b/.clang-tidy
index e82443c4c..ddee835c1 100644
--- a/.clang-tidy
+++ b/.clang-tidy
@@ -10,6 +10,7 @@ cppcoreguidelines-pro-type-static-cast-downcast,
 cppcoreguidelines-slicing,
 google-explicit-constructor,
 llvm-namespace-comment,
+misc-definitions-in-headers,
 misc-misplaced-const,
 misc-non-copyable-objects,
 misc-static-assert,
@@ -17,6 +18,7 @@ misc-throw-by-value-catch-by-reference,
 misc-uniqueptr-reset-release,
 misc-unused-parameters,
 modernize-avoid-bind,
+modernize-loop-convert,
 modernize-make-shared,
 modernize-redundant-void-arg,
 modernize-replace-auto-ptr,
@@ -63,6 +65,8 @@ readability-uniqueptr-delete-release,
 CheckOptions:
 - key:             performance-for-range-copy.WarnOnAllAutoCopies
   value:           true
+- key:             performance-inefficient-string-concatenation.StrictMode
+  value:           true
 - key:             performance-unnecessary-value-param.AllowedTypes
   value:           'exception_ptr$;'
 - key:             readability-implicit-bool-conversion.AllowPointerConditions
diff --git a/.github/workflows/ci.yml b/.github/workflows/ci.yml
index d5de4a2c6..57dd7e066 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/ci.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/ci.yml
@@ -585,19 +585,25 @@ jobs:
     strategy:
       fail-fast: false
       matrix:
-        centos:
-          - centos7  # GCC 4.8
-          - stream8
+        container:
+          - "centos:7"  # GCC 4.8
+          - "almalinux:8"
+          - "almalinux:9"
 
-    name: "🐍 3 • CentOS ${{ matrix.centos }} • x64"
-    container: "quay.io/centos/centos:${{ matrix.centos }}"
+    name: "🐍 3 • ${{ matrix.container }} • x64"
+    container: "${{ matrix.container }}"
 
     steps:
     - uses: actions/checkout@v3
 
-    - name: Add Python 3
+    - name: Add Python 3 (RHEL 7)
+      if: matrix.container == 'centos:7'
       run: yum update -y && yum install -y python3-devel gcc-c++ make git
 
+    - name: Add Python 3 (RHEL 8+)
+      if: matrix.container != 'centos:7'
+      run: dnf update -y && dnf install -y python3-devel gcc-c++ make git
+
     - name: Update pip
       run: python3 -m pip install --upgrade pip
 
diff --git a/.github/workflows/format.yml b/.github/workflows/format.yml
index 9ab75c186..2bd50877c 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/format.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/format.yml
@@ -25,7 +25,7 @@ jobs:
     - uses: actions/setup-python@v3
     - name: Add matchers
       run: echo "::add-matcher::$GITHUB_WORKSPACE/.github/matchers/pylint.json"
-    - uses: pre-commit/action@v2.0.3
+    - uses: pre-commit/action@v3.0.0
       with:
         # Slow hooks are marked with manual - slow is okay here, run them too
         extra_args: --hook-stage manual --all-files
diff --git a/.pre-commit-config.yaml b/.pre-commit-config.yaml
index 3c7e35649..86f71def8 100644
--- a/.pre-commit-config.yaml
+++ b/.pre-commit-config.yaml
@@ -15,7 +15,7 @@
 repos:
 # Standard hooks
 - repo: https://github.com/pre-commit/pre-commit-hooks
-  rev: "v4.2.0"
+  rev: "v4.3.0"
   hooks:
   - id: check-added-large-files
   - id: check-case-conflict
@@ -33,7 +33,7 @@ repos:
 
 # Upgrade old Python syntax
 - repo: https://github.com/asottile/pyupgrade
-  rev: "v2.32.1"
+  rev: "v2.34.0"
   hooks:
   - id: pyupgrade
     args: [--py36-plus]
@@ -60,7 +60,7 @@ repos:
 
 # Changes tabs to spaces
 - repo: https://github.com/Lucas-C/pre-commit-hooks
-  rev: "v1.1.13"
+  rev: "v1.2.0"
   hooks:
   - id: remove-tabs
     exclude: (^docs/.*|\.patch)?$
@@ -73,7 +73,7 @@ repos:
 
 # Autoremoves unused imports
 - repo: https://github.com/hadialqattan/pycln
-  rev: "v1.3.2"
+  rev: "v1.3.5"
   hooks:
   - id: pycln
     stages: [manual]
@@ -110,7 +110,7 @@ repos:
 
 # PyLint has native support - not always usable, but works for us
 - repo: https://github.com/PyCQA/pylint
-  rev: "v2.13.8"
+  rev: "v2.14.3"
   hooks:
   - id: pylint
     files: ^pybind11
@@ -126,7 +126,7 @@ repos:
 
 # Check static types with mypy
 - repo: https://github.com/pre-commit/mirrors-mypy
-  rev: "v0.950"
+  rev: "v0.961"
   hooks:
   - id: mypy
     args: []
@@ -167,7 +167,7 @@ repos:
 
 # Clang format the codebase automatically
 - repo: https://github.com/pre-commit/mirrors-clang-format
-  rev: "v14.0.3"
+  rev: "v14.0.5"
   hooks:
   - id: clang-format
     types_or: [c++, c, cuda]
diff --git a/include/pybind11/functional.h b/include/pybind11/functional.h
index f2a752e9d..4034990d8 100644
--- a/include/pybind11/functional.h
+++ b/include/pybind11/functional.h
@@ -99,7 +99,7 @@ public:
             Return operator()(Args... args) const {
                 gil_scoped_acquire acq;
                 // casts the returned object as a rvalue to the return type
-                return object(hfunc.f(std::forward<Args>(args)...)).template cast<Return>();
+                return hfunc.f(std::forward<Args>(args)...).template cast<Return>();
             }
         };
 
diff --git a/include/pybind11/numpy.h b/include/pybind11/numpy.h
index b8ba2259f..0291b02d0 100644
--- a/include/pybind11/numpy.h
+++ b/include/pybind11/numpy.h
@@ -604,7 +604,7 @@ public:
     }
 
     /// type number of dtype.
-    ssize_t num() const {
+    int num() const {
         // Note: The signature, `dtype::num` follows the naming of NumPy's public
         // Python API (i.e., ``dtype.num``), rather than its internal
         // C API (``PyArray_Descr::type_num``).
@@ -641,10 +641,14 @@ private:
             pybind11::str name;
             object format;
             pybind11::int_ offset;
+            field_descr(pybind11::str &&name, object &&format, pybind11::int_ &&offset)
+                : name{std::move(name)}, format{std::move(format)}, offset{std::move(offset)} {};
         };
+        auto field_dict = attr("fields").cast<dict>();
         std::vector<field_descr> field_descriptors;
+        field_descriptors.reserve(field_dict.size());
 
-        for (auto field : attr("fields").attr("items")()) {
+        for (auto field : field_dict.attr("items")()) {
             auto spec = field.cast<tuple>();
             auto name = spec[0].cast<pybind11::str>();
             auto spec_fo = spec[1].cast<tuple>();
@@ -653,8 +657,8 @@ private:
             if ((len(name) == 0u) && format.kind() == 'V') {
                 continue;
             }
-            field_descriptors.push_back(
-                {(pybind11::str) name, format.strip_padding(format.itemsize()), offset});
+            field_descriptors.emplace_back(
+                std::move(name), format.strip_padding(format.itemsize()), std::move(offset));
         }
 
         std::sort(field_descriptors.begin(),
@@ -1405,7 +1409,7 @@ PYBIND11_NOINLINE void register_structured_dtype(any_container<field_descriptor>
     }
 
     auto tindex = std::type_index(tinfo);
-    numpy_internals.registered_dtypes[tindex] = {dtype_ptr, format_str};
+    numpy_internals.registered_dtypes[tindex] = {dtype_ptr, std::move(format_str)};
     get_internals().direct_conversions[tindex].push_back(direct_converter);
 }
 
diff --git a/tests/test_constants_and_functions.cpp b/tests/test_constants_and_functions.cpp
index 873fa1f55..1918a429c 100644
--- a/tests/test_constants_and_functions.cpp
+++ b/tests/test_constants_and_functions.cpp
@@ -31,8 +31,8 @@ py::bytes return_bytes() {
 std::string print_bytes(const py::bytes &bytes) {
     std::string ret = "bytes[";
     const auto value = static_cast<std::string>(bytes);
-    for (size_t i = 0; i < value.length(); ++i) {
-        ret += std::to_string(static_cast<int>(value[i])) + " ";
+    for (char c : value) {
+        ret += std::to_string(static_cast<int>(c)) + ' ';
     }
     ret.back() = ']';
     return ret;