diff --git a/test/lib/aux.sh b/test/lib/aux.sh
index c1549d118..bde642f3d 100644
--- a/test/lib/aux.sh
+++ b/test/lib/aux.sh
@@ -1089,9 +1089,9 @@ prepare_devs() {
 		# then allocate a dedicated backing device for PV; otherwise, rollback
 		# to use single backing device for device-mapper.
 		if [ -n "$LVM_TEST_BACKING_DEVICE" ] && [ "$n" -le ${#BACKING_DEVICE_ARRAY[@]} ]; then
-			table[i]="0 $size linear "${BACKING_DEVICE_ARRAY[i]}" $(( header_shift * 2048 ))"
+			table[i]="0 $size linear ${BACKING_DEVICE_ARRAY[i]} $(( header_shift * 2048 ))"
 		else
-			table[i]="0 $size linear "$BACKING_DEV" $(( i * size + ( header_shift * 2048 ) ))"
+			table[i]="0 $size linear $BACKING_DEV $(( i * size + ( header_shift * 2048 ) ))"
 		fi
 		concise[i]="$name,TEST-$name,,,${table[i]}"
 		echo "${table[i]}" > "$name.table"
diff --git a/test/shell/devicesfile-serial.sh b/test/shell/devicesfile-serial.sh
index 3123e9ed6..fe447fc0c 100644
--- a/test/shell/devicesfile-serial.sh
+++ b/test/shell/devicesfile-serial.sh
@@ -196,10 +196,10 @@ vgcreate $vg2 "$dev2"
 vgcreate $vg3 "$dev3"
 vgcreate $vg4 "$dev4"
 cp "$DF" "$ORIG"
-OPVID1=$(echo $(pvs --noheading -o uuid "$dev1") )
-OPVID2=$(echo $(pvs --noheading -o uuid "$dev2") )
-OPVID3=$(echo $(pvs --noheading -o uuid "$dev3") )
-OPVID4=$(echo $(pvs --noheading -o uuid "$dev4") )
+OPVID1="$(echo $(pvs --noheading -o uuid "$dev1") )"
+OPVID2="$(echo $(pvs --noheading -o uuid "$dev2") )"
+OPVID3="$(echo $(pvs --noheading -o uuid "$dev3") )"
+OPVID4="$(echo $(pvs --noheading -o uuid "$dev4") )"
 PVID1=${OPVID1//-/}
 PVID2=${OPVID2//-/}
 PVID3=${OPVID3//-/}
@@ -345,10 +345,10 @@ vgcreate $vg2 "$dev2"
 vgcreate $vg3 "$dev3"
 vgcreate $vg4 "$dev4"
 cp "$DF" "$ORIG"
-OPVID1=$(echo $(pvs --noheading -o uuid "$dev1") )
-OPVID2=$(echo $(pvs --noheading -o uuid "$dev2") )
-OPVID3=$(echo $(pvs --noheading -o uuid "$dev3") )
-OPVID4=$(echo $(pvs --noheading -o uuid "$dev4") )
+OPVID1="$(echo $(pvs --noheading -o uuid "$dev1") )"
+OPVID2="$(echo $(pvs --noheading -o uuid "$dev2") )"
+OPVID3="$(echo $(pvs --noheading -o uuid "$dev3") )"
+OPVID4="$(echo $(pvs --noheading -o uuid "$dev4") )"
 PVID1=${OPVID1//-/}
 PVID2=${OPVID2//-/}
 PVID3=${OPVID3//-/}
@@ -472,8 +472,8 @@ touch "$DF"
 vgcreate $vg1 "$dev1"
 vgcreate $vg4 "$dev4"
 cp "$DF" "$ORIG"
-OPVID1=$(echo $(pvs --noheading -o uuid "$dev1") )
-OPVID4=$(echo $(pvs --noheading -o uuid "$dev4") )
+OPVID1="$(echo $(pvs --noheading -o uuid "$dev1") )"
+OPVID4="$(echo $(pvs --noheading -o uuid "$dev4") )"
 PVID1=${OPVID1//-/}
 PVID4=${OPVID4//-/}
 
@@ -551,7 +551,7 @@ rm "$DF"
 touch "$DF"
 vgcreate $vg2 "$dev2"
 cp "$DF" "$ORIG"
-OPVID2=$(echo $(pvs --noheading -o uuid "$dev2") )
+OPVID2="$(echo $(pvs --noheading -o uuid "$dev2") )"
 PVID2=${OPVID2//-/}
 
 grep "$PVID2" "$DF" |tee out
@@ -601,10 +601,10 @@ grep "$SERIAL1" "$DF"
 grep "$SERIAL2" "$DF"
 grep "$SERIAL3" "$DF"
 grep "$SERIAL4" "$DF"
-OPVID1=$(echo $(pvs --noheading -o uuid "$dev1") )
-OPVID2=$(echo $(pvs --noheading -o uuid "$dev2") )
-OPVID3=$(echo $(pvs --noheading -o uuid "$dev3") )
-OPVID4=$(echo $(pvs --noheading -o uuid "$dev4") )
+OPVID1="$(echo $(pvs --noheading -o uuid "$dev1") )"
+OPVID2="$(echo $(pvs --noheading -o uuid "$dev2") )"
+OPVID3="$(echo $(pvs --noheading -o uuid "$dev3") )"
+OPVID4="$(echo $(pvs --noheading -o uuid "$dev4") )"
 PVID1=${OPVID1//-/}
 PVID2=${OPVID2//-/}
 PVID3=${OPVID3//-/}
@@ -665,10 +665,10 @@ vgcreate $vg2 "$dev2"
 vgcreate $vg3 "$dev3"
 vgcreate $vg4 "$dev4"
 cp "$DF" "$ORIG"
-OPVID1=$(echo $(pvs --noheading -o uuid "$dev1") )
-OPVID2=$(echo $(pvs --noheading -o uuid "$dev2") )
-OPVID3=$(echo $(pvs --noheading -o uuid "$dev3") )
-OPVID4=$(echo $(pvs --noheading -o uuid "$dev4") )
+OPVID1="$(echo $(pvs --noheading -o uuid "$dev1") )"
+OPVID2="$(echo $(pvs --noheading -o uuid "$dev2") )"
+OPVID3="$(echo $(pvs --noheading -o uuid "$dev3") )"
+OPVID4="$(echo $(pvs --noheading -o uuid "$dev4") )"
 PVID1=${OPVID1//-/}
 PVID2=${OPVID2//-/}
 PVID3=${OPVID3//-/}
@@ -730,9 +730,9 @@ vgcreate $vg1 "$dev1"
 vgcreate $vg2 "$dev2"
 vgcreate $vg3 "$dev3"
 cp "$DF" "$ORIG"
-OPVID1=$(echo $(pvs --noheading -o uuid "$dev1") )
-OPVID2=$(echo $(pvs --noheading -o uuid "$dev2") )
-OPVID3=$(echo $(pvs --noheading -o uuid "$dev3") )
+OPVID1="$(echo $(pvs --noheading -o uuid "$dev1") )"
+OPVID2="$(echo $(pvs --noheading -o uuid "$dev2") )"
+OPVID3="$(echo $(pvs --noheading -o uuid "$dev3") )"
 PVID1=${OPVID1//-/}
 PVID2=${OPVID2//-/}
 PVID3=${OPVID3//-/}
@@ -830,10 +830,10 @@ grep "$dev4" out
 grep "$dev2" out
 grep "$dev3" out
 
-OPVID1=$(echo $(pvs --noheading -o uuid "$dev1") )
-OPVID2=$(echo $(pvs --noheading -o uuid "$dev2") )
-OPVID3=$(echo $(pvs --noheading -o uuid "$dev3") )
-OPVID4=$(echo $(pvs --noheading -o uuid "$dev4") )
+OPVID1="$(echo $(pvs --noheading -o uuid "$dev1") )"
+OPVID2="$(echo $(pvs --noheading -o uuid "$dev2") )"
+OPVID3="$(echo $(pvs --noheading -o uuid "$dev3") )"
+OPVID4="$(echo $(pvs --noheading -o uuid "$dev4") )"
 PVID1=${OPVID1//-/}
 PVID2=${OPVID2//-/}
 PVID3=${OPVID3//-/}
@@ -867,8 +867,8 @@ lvmdevices --adddev "$dev3"
 cat "$DF"
 cp "$DF" "$ORIG"
 
-OPVID1=$(echo $(pvs --noheading -o uuid "$dev1") )
-OPVID2=$(echo $(pvs --noheading -o uuid "$dev2") )
+OPVID1="$(echo $(pvs --noheading -o uuid "$dev1") )"
+OPVID2="$(echo $(pvs --noheading -o uuid "$dev2") )"
 PVID1=${OPVID1//-/}
 PVID2=${OPVID2//-/}
 
diff --git a/test/shell/dmeventd-restart.sh b/test/shell/dmeventd-restart.sh
index 5ef311400..3fb01df97 100644
--- a/test/shell/dmeventd-restart.sh
+++ b/test/shell/dmeventd-restart.sh
@@ -81,7 +81,7 @@ for i in {1..10}; do
 	# wait here for a while until dmeventd dies....
 	# surprisingly it's not instant and we can actually
 	# obtain list of monitored devices...
-	test -z $(ps -p "$pid" -o comm=) && break
+	test -z "$(ps -p "$pid" -o comm=)" && break
 	sleep .1
 done
 rm LOCAL_DMEVENTD debug.log*
diff --git a/test/shell/lock-blocking.sh b/test/shell/lock-blocking.sh
index ae38b01e9..5ba9c9bfe 100644
--- a/test/shell/lock-blocking.sh
+++ b/test/shell/lock-blocking.sh
@@ -47,7 +47,7 @@ not vgremove --config 'global { wait_for_locks = 0 }' $vg
 test -f "$TESTDIR/var/lock/lvm/P_global" # still running
 # First kill 'sleep' process forked from flock
 # Not using 'flock -F' since this flag is newer
-kill $(ps -o pid --no-headers --ppid "$flock_pid") || true
+kill "$(ps -o pid --no-headers --ppid "$flock_pid")" || true
 kill "$flock_pid" || true
 
 vgremove -ff $vg
diff --git a/test/shell/lvconvert-raid-reshape-size.sh b/test/shell/lvconvert-raid-reshape-size.sh
index 19b58515a..36291abcd 100644
--- a/test/shell/lvconvert-raid-reshape-size.sh
+++ b/test/shell/lvconvert-raid-reshape-size.sh
@@ -105,7 +105,7 @@ function _check_size
 	local data_stripes=$3
 
 	# Compare size of LV with calculated one
-	[ $(blockdev --getsz /dev/$vg/$lv) -eq $(_get_size $vg $lv $data_stripes) ] && echo 0 || echo 1
+	[ "$(blockdev --getsz /dev/$vg/$lv)" -eq "$(_get_size $vg $lv $data_stripes)" ] && echo 0 || echo 1
 }
 
 function _total_stripes
diff --git a/test/shell/udev-pvscan-vgchange.sh b/test/shell/udev-pvscan-vgchange.sh
index 9e2faccf9..752c4a189 100644
--- a/test/shell/udev-pvscan-vgchange.sh
+++ b/test/shell/udev-pvscan-vgchange.sh
@@ -388,8 +388,8 @@ wait_md_create "$mddev"
 vgcreate $vg9 "$mddev"
 lvmdevices --adddev "$mddev" || true
 
-PVIDMD=$(pvs "$mddev" --noheading -o uuid | tr -d - | awk '{print $1}')
-BDEVMD=$(basename "$mddev")
+PVIDMD="$(pvs "$mddev" --noheading -o uuid | tr -d - | awk '{print $1}')"
+BDEVMD="$(basename "$mddev")"
 
 lvcreate -l1 -an -n $lv1 $vg9
 lvcreate -l1 -an -n $lv2 $vg9