diff --git a/src/commands.cc b/src/commands.cc
index 1f8a72c5..cdab704f 100644
--- a/src/commands.cc
+++ b/src/commands.cc
@@ -691,7 +691,7 @@ void define_command(const ParametersParser& parser, Context& context)
                 { "pos_in_token",      to_string(pos_in_token) }
             };
             String output = ShellManager::instance().eval(shell_cmd, context, params, vars);
-            return Completions{ 0_byte, params[token_to_complete].length(), split(output, '\n') };
+            return Completions{ 0_byte, params[token_to_complete].length(), split(output, '\n', 0) };
         };
     }
 
diff --git a/src/file.cc b/src/file.cc
index 11159805..3f6b71aa 100644
--- a/src/file.cc
+++ b/src/file.cc
@@ -350,7 +350,7 @@ std::vector<String> complete_command(StringView prefix, ByteCount cursor_pos)
     };
     static std::unordered_map<String, CommandCache> command_cache;
 
-    std::vector<String> path;
+    std::vector<StringView> path;
     if (dir_end != -1)
     {
         path.emplace_back(real_prefix.substr(0, dir_end + 1));
@@ -360,8 +360,9 @@ std::vector<String> complete_command(StringView prefix, ByteCount cursor_pos)
         path = split(getenv("PATH"), ':');
 
     std::vector<String> res;
-    for (auto dirname : path)
+    for (auto dir : path)
     {
+        String dirname = dir;
         if (not dirname.empty() and dirname.back() != '/')
             dirname += '/';
 
diff --git a/src/string.cc b/src/string.cc
index f31ed83f..79da055b 100644
--- a/src/string.cc
+++ b/src/string.cc
@@ -46,6 +46,22 @@ std::vector<String> split(StringView str, char separator, char escape)
     return res;
 }
 
+std::vector<StringView> split(StringView str, char separator)
+{
+    std::vector<StringView> res;
+    auto beg = str.begin();
+    for (auto it = beg; it != str.end(); ++it)
+    {
+        if (*it == separator)
+        {
+            res.emplace_back(beg, it);
+            beg = it + 1;
+        }
+    }
+    res.emplace_back(beg, str.end());
+    return res;
+}
+
 String escape(StringView str, char character, char escape)
 {
     String res;
diff --git a/src/string.hh b/src/string.hh
index e31a3173..afb3f64e 100644
--- a/src/string.hh
+++ b/src/string.hh
@@ -271,7 +271,9 @@ inline String operator+(StringView lhs, StringView rhs)
     return res;
 }
 
-std::vector<String> split(StringView str, char separator, char escape = 0);
+std::vector<String> split(StringView str, char separator, char escape);
+std::vector<StringView> split(StringView str, char separator);
+
 String escape(StringView str, char character, char escape);
 String escape(StringView str, StringView characters, char escape);
 
diff --git a/src/unit_tests.cc b/src/unit_tests.cc
index 82dd3ca2..a74326fc 100644
--- a/src/unit_tests.cc
+++ b/src/unit_tests.cc
@@ -113,6 +113,15 @@ void test_string()
     kak_assert(splited[3] == "tchou:kanaky");
     kak_assert(splited[4] == "hihi:");
 
+    std::vector<StringView> splitedview = split("youpi:matin::tchou\\:kanaky:hihi\\:", ':');
+    kak_assert(splitedview[0] == "youpi");
+    kak_assert(splitedview[1] == "matin");
+    kak_assert(splitedview[2] == "");
+    kak_assert(splitedview[3] == "tchou\\");
+    kak_assert(splitedview[4] == "kanaky");
+    kak_assert(splitedview[5] == "hihi\\");
+    kak_assert(splitedview[6] == "");
+
     String escaped = escape("youpi:matin:tchou:", ':', '\\');
     kak_assert(escaped == "youpi\\:matin\\:tchou\\:");