diff --git a/tools/bash-completion/vsh b/tools/bash-completion/vsh
index bbb25fc3eb..402945a8c5 100644
--- a/tools/bash-completion/vsh
+++ b/tools/bash-completion/vsh
@@ -30,12 +30,12 @@ _vsh_complete()
         c=$((++c))
     done
 
-    CMDLINE=
+    CMDLINE=( )
     if [ -n "${RO}" ]; then
-        CMDLINE="${CMDLINE} -r"
+        CMDLINE+=("-r")
     fi
     if [ -n "${URI}" ]; then
-        CMDLINE="${CMDLINE} -c ${URI}"
+        CMDLINE+=("-c" "${URI}")
     fi
 
     INPUT=( "${COMP_WORDS[@]:$i:$COMP_CWORD}" )
@@ -56,7 +56,7 @@ _vsh_complete()
     # the name of the command whose arguments are being
     # completed.
     # Therefore, we might just run $1.
-    IFS=$'\n' A=($($1 ${CMDLINE} complete -- "${INPUT[@]}" 2>/dev/null))
+    IFS=$'\n' A=($($1 ${CMDLINE[@]} complete -- "${INPUT[@]}" 2>/dev/null))
 
     COMPREPLY=($(compgen -W "${A[*]%--}" -- ${cur}))
     __ltrim_colon_completions "$cur"