diff --git a/rc/c-family.kak b/rc/c-family.kak
index c3ec29d5..1ddea865 100644
--- a/rc/c-family.kak
+++ b/rc/c-family.kak
@@ -162,7 +162,7 @@ hook global BufNew .*\.(h|hh|hpp|hxx|H) _c-family-insert-include-guards
 decl str-list alt_dirs ".;.."
 
 def c-family-alternative-file -docstring "Jump to the alternate file (header/implementation)" %{ %sh{
-    alt_dirs=$(echo ${kak_opt_alt_dirs} | sed -e 's/;/ /g')
+    alt_dirs=$(printf %s "${kak_opt_alt_dirs}" | sed -e 's/;/ /g')
     file=$(basename "${kak_buffile}")
     dir=$(dirname "${kak_buffile}")
 
diff --git a/rc/clang.kak b/rc/clang.kak
index b7db9479..343f16ca 100644
--- a/rc/clang.kak
+++ b/rc/clang.kak
@@ -118,14 +118,14 @@ def clang-enable-autocomplete -docstring "Enable completion with clang" %{
 }
 
 def clang-disable-autocomplete -docstring "Disable automatic clang completion" %{
-    set window completers %sh{ echo "'${kak_opt_completers}'" | sed -e 's/option=clang_completions://g' }
+    set window completers %sh{ printf %s "'${kak_opt_completers}'" | sed -e 's/option=clang_completions://g' }
     rmhooks window clang-autocomplete
     unalias window complete clang-complete
 }
 
 def -allow-override -hidden clang-show-error-info %{ %sh{
-    echo "${kak_opt_clang_errors}" | grep "^${kak_cursor_line},.*" | if read line; then
-        desc=$(echo ${line} | sed -e "s/^[[:digit:]]\+,//g; s/'/\\\\'/g")
+    printf %s "${kak_opt_clang_errors}" | grep "^${kak_cursor_line},.*" | if read line; then
+        desc=$(printf %s ${line} | sed -e "s/^[[:digit:]]\+,//g; s/'/\\\\'/g")
         echo "info -anchor ${kak_cursor_line}.${kak_cursor_column} '${desc}'"
     fi
 } }
@@ -141,7 +141,7 @@ def clang-disable-diagnostics -docstring "Disable automatic diagnostics of the c
 }
 
 def clang-diagnostics-next -docstring "Jump to the next line that contains an error" %{ %sh{
-    echo "${kak_opt_clang_errors}" | (
+    printf %s "${kak_opt_clang_errors}" | (
         line=-1
         first_line=-1
         while read line_content; do
diff --git a/rc/ctags.kak b/rc/ctags.kak
index 4ec6affc..ca31cbab 100644
--- a/rc/ctags.kak
+++ b/rc/ctags.kak
@@ -7,7 +7,7 @@ decl str-list ctagsfiles 'tags'
 
 def -params 0..1 \
     -shell-completion '
-        ( for tags in $(echo "${kak_opt_ctagsfiles}" | tr \':\' \'\n\');
+        ( for tags in $(printf %s "${kak_opt_ctagsfiles}" | tr \':\' \'\n\');
               do readtags -t "${tags}" -p "$1"
           done ) | cut -f 1 | sort | uniq' \
     -docstring 'Jump to tag definition' \
@@ -15,7 +15,7 @@ def -params 0..1 \
     %{ %sh{
         export tagname=${1:-${kak_selection}}
         (
-            for tags in $(echo "${kak_opt_ctagsfiles}" | tr ':' '\n'); do
+            for tags in $(printf %s "${kak_opt_ctagsfiles}" | tr ':' '\n'); do
                 readtags -t "${tags}" ${tagname}
             done
         ) | awk -F '\t|\n' -e '
diff --git a/rc/jedi.kak b/rc/jedi.kak
index c588968e..801740cb 100644
--- a/rc/jedi.kak
+++ b/rc/jedi.kak
@@ -38,7 +38,7 @@ def jedi-enable-autocomplete -docstring "Add jedi completion candidates to the c
 }
 
 def jedi-disable-autocomplete -docstring "Disable jedi completion" %{
-    set window completers %sh{ echo "'${kak_opt_completers}'" | sed -e 's/option=jedi_completions://g' }
+    set window completers %sh{ printf %s "'${kak_opt_completers}'" | sed -e 's/option=jedi_completions://g' }
     rmhooks window jedi-autocomplete
     unalias window complete jedi-complete
 }
diff --git a/rc/man.kak b/rc/man.kak
index bff92625..c1ef62e8 100644
--- a/rc/man.kak
+++ b/rc/man.kak
@@ -37,7 +37,7 @@ def -params .. \
     prefix=${1:0:${kak_pos_in_token}}
     for page in /usr/share/man/*/${prefix}*.[1-8]*; do
         candidate=$(basename ${page%%.[1-8]*})
-        pagenum=$(echo $page | sed -r 's,^.+/.+\.([1-8][^.]*)\..+$,\1,')
+        pagenum=$(printf %s "$page" | sed -r 's,^.+/.+\.([1-8][^.]*)\..+$,\1,')
         case $candidate in
             *\*) ;;
             *) echo $candidate\($pagenum\);;
diff --git a/rc/spell.kak b/rc/spell.kak
index 5d750a88..80043cfc 100644
--- a/rc/spell.kak
+++ b/rc/spell.kak
@@ -16,15 +16,15 @@ def spell %{
             while read line; do
                 case $line in
                    \&*)
-                       word=$(echo "$line" | cut -d ' ' -f 2)
-                       begin=$(echo "$line" | cut -d ' ' -f 4 | sed 's/:$//')
+                       word=$(printf %s "$line" | cut -d ' ' -f 2)
+                       begin=$(printf %s "$line" | cut -d ' ' -f 4 | sed 's/:$//')
                        end=$((begin + ${#word}))
                        # echo "echo -debug -- line: $line_num, word: $word, begin: $begin, end: $end"
                        regions="$regions:$line_num.$begin,$line_num.$end|Error"
                        ;;
                    '#'*)
-                       word=$(echo "$line" | cut -d ' ' -f 2)
-                       begin=$(echo "$line" | cut -d ' ' -f 3)
+                       word=$(printf %s "$line" | cut -d ' ' -f 2)
+                       begin=$(printf %s "$line" | cut -d ' ' -f 3)
                        end=$((begin + ${#word}))
                        # echo "echo -debug -- line: $line_num, word: $word, begin: $begin, end: $end"
                        regions="$regions:$line_num.$begin,$line_num.$end|Error"
diff --git a/rc/x11.kak b/rc/x11.kak
index dc4595e4..f485a416 100644
--- a/rc/x11.kak
+++ b/rc/x11.kak
@@ -12,7 +12,7 @@ decl str termcmd %sh{
                    'xfce4-terminal -e      ' ; do
         terminal=${termcmd%% *}
         if which $terminal > /dev/null 2>&1; then
-            echo "'$termcmd'"
+            printf %s "'$termcmd'"
             exit
         fi
     done