diff --git a/completions/abook b/completions/abook
index 07a0f090..1a6f0a0c 100644
--- a/completions/abook
+++ b/completions/abook
@@ -23,12 +23,12 @@ _abook()
     case $prev in
         --informat)
             COMPREPLY=( $( compgen -W "$(abook --formats | \
-                sed -n -e 's/^\t\([a-z]*\).*/\1/p' -e '/^$/q')" -- "$cur" ) )
+                sed -n -e 's/^'$'\t''\([a-z]*\).*/\1/p' -e '/^$/q')" -- "$cur" ) )
             return 0
             ;;
         --outformat)
             COMPREPLY=( $( compgen -W "$(abook --formats | \
-                sed -n -e '/^$/,$s/^\t\([a-z]*\).*/\1/p')" -- "$cur" ) )
+                sed -n -e '/^$/,$s/^'$'\t''\([a-z]*\).*/\1/p')" -- "$cur" ) )
             return 0
             ;;
         --infile)
diff --git a/completions/kldunload b/completions/kldunload
index adb268d8..4c330289 100644
--- a/completions/kldunload
+++ b/completions/kldunload
@@ -8,7 +8,7 @@ _kldunload()
     _init_completion || return
 
     COMPREPLY=( $( kldstat | \
-        sed -ne "s/^.*[ \t]\{1,\}\($cur[a-z_]\{1,\}\).ko$/\1/p" ) )
+        sed -ne "s/^.*[ $'\t']\{1,\}\($cur[a-z_]\{1,\}\).ko$/\1/p" ) )
 } &&
 complete -F _kldunload kldunload