diff --git a/scripts/refresh_patch.sh b/scripts/refresh_patch.sh
index fde07d9..9700b31 100755
--- a/scripts/refresh_patch.sh
+++ b/scripts/refresh_patch.sh
@@ -9,7 +9,7 @@
 export LC_ALL=C
 export LANG=C
 
-current=` quilt top `
+current="$(quilt top)"
 case "$current" in
 */patches.kernel.org/*)
 	echo "Will not touch kernel.org patch '$current' because it will disappear soon."
diff --git a/scripts/sequence-patch.sh b/scripts/sequence-patch.sh
index e1ea2f1..ce51db4 100755
--- a/scripts/sequence-patch.sh
+++ b/scripts/sequence-patch.sh
@@ -215,7 +215,7 @@ if $have_arch_patches; then
 else
 	arch_opt=""
 fi
-options=`getopt -o qvd:F: --long quilt,no-quilt,$arch_opt,symbol:,dir:,combine,fast,rapid,vanilla,fuzz:,patch-dir:,build-dir:,config:,kabi,ctags,cscope,etags,skip-reverse,dry-run,signing-key: -- "$@"`
+options="$(getopt -o qvd:F: --long quilt,no-quilt,$arch_opt,symbol:,dir:,combine,fast,rapid,vanilla,fuzz:,patch-dir:,build-dir:,config:,kabi,ctags,cscope,etags,skip-reverse,dry-run,signing-key: -- "$@")"
 
 if [ $? -ne 0 ]
 then
diff --git a/scripts/update-symvers b/scripts/update-symvers
index 0a0986e..d09b17e 100755
--- a/scripts/update-symvers
+++ b/scripts/update-symvers
@@ -271,7 +271,7 @@ SUSE:SLE-10* | SUSE:SLE-11*)
     ;;
 esac
 
-options=`getopt -o h --long symvers,no-symvers,symsets,no-symsets,symtypes,no-symtypes,dry-run,filter:,help -- "$@"`
+options="$(getopt -o h --long symvers,no-symvers,symsets,no-symsets,symtypes,no-symtypes,dry-run,filter:,help -- "$@")"
 if [ $? -ne 0 ]; then
     usage >&2
     exit 1