diff --git a/bash_completion b/bash_completion
index 3bade058..46eda1d6 100644
--- a/bash_completion
+++ b/bash_completion
@@ -594,8 +594,8 @@ _pnames()
     # Not using "ps axo comm" because under some Linux kernels, it
     # truncates command names (see e.g. http://bugs.debian.org/497540#19)
     COMPREPLY=( $( compgen -W '$( command ps axo command= | \
-    sed -e "s/ .*//; s:.*/::; s/:$//;" \
-    -e "s/^[[(-]//; s/[])]$//" \
+    sed -e "s/ .*//" -e "s:.*/::" -e "s/:$//" \
+    -e "s/^[[(-]//" -e "s/[])]$//" \
     -e "s/^<defunct>$//")' \
     -- "$cur" ) )
 }
@@ -767,8 +767,8 @@ _service()
     if [[ $COMP_CWORD -eq 1 ]] && [[ $prev == "service" ]]; then
         _services
     else
-        COMPREPLY=( $( compgen -W '`sed -ne "y/|/ /; \
-        s/^.*\(U\|msg_u\)sage.*{\(.*\)}.*$/\2/p" \
+        COMPREPLY=( $( compgen -W '`sed -e "y/|/ /" \
+        -ne "s/^.*\(U\|msg_u\)sage.*{\(.*\)}.*$/\2/p" \
         $sysvdir/${prev##*/} 2>/dev/null`' -- "$cur" ) )
     fi
 
diff --git a/contrib/cvs b/contrib/cvs
index 581182a4..9aeef525 100644
--- a/contrib/cvs
+++ b/contrib/cvs
@@ -254,7 +254,7 @@ _cvs()
         cvsroot)
             if [ -r ~/.cvspass ]; then
                 # Ugly escaping because of bash treating ':' specially
-                cvsroots=$( sed 's/^[^ ]* //; s/:/\\:/g' ~/.cvspass )
+                cvsroots=$( sed -e 's/^[^ ]* //' -e 's/:/\\:/g' ~/.cvspass )
                 COMPREPLY=( $( compgen -W '$cvsroots' -- "$cur" ) )
             fi
             ;;
diff --git a/contrib/gdb b/contrib/gdb
index 8c8cb8d0..0cbf1ec7 100644
--- a/contrib/gdb
+++ b/contrib/gdb
@@ -21,7 +21,7 @@ _gdb()
             # names manually.
             IFS=":"
             local path_array=( $( echo "$PATH" | \
-                sed 's/:\{2,\}/:/g;s/^:\|:$//g' ) )
+                sed -e 's/:\{2,\}/:/g' -e 's/^:\|:$//g' ) )
             IFS=$'\n'
             COMPREPLY=( $( compgen -d -W '$(find "${path_array[@]}" . \
                 -mindepth 1 -maxdepth 1 -not -type d -executable \
diff --git a/contrib/gpg b/contrib/gpg
index 76c845a1..49bfe040 100644
--- a/contrib/gpg
+++ b/contrib/gpg
@@ -17,7 +17,8 @@ _gpg()
         --@(export|@(?(l|nr|nrl)sign|edit)-key))
             # return list of public keys
             COMPREPLY=( $( compgen -W "$( gpg --list-keys 2>/dev/null | \
-                sed -ne 's@^pub.*/\([^ ]*\).*$@\1@p;s@^.*\(<\([^>]*\)>\).*$@\2@p')" -- "$cur" ))
+                sed -ne 's@^pub.*/\([^ ]*\).*$@\1@p' \
+                    -ne 's@^.*\(<\([^>]*\)>\).*$@\2@p' )" -- "$cur" ) )
             return 0
             ;;
         -@(r|-recipient))
diff --git a/contrib/gpg2 b/contrib/gpg2
index 607797c5..eff4b3c3 100644
--- a/contrib/gpg2
+++ b/contrib/gpg2
@@ -21,7 +21,8 @@ _gpg2 ()
         --@(export|@(?(l|nr|nrl)sign|edit)-key))
             # return list of public keys
             COMPREPLY=( $( compgen -W "$( gpg2 --list-keys 2>/dev/null | \
-                sed -ne 's@^pub.*/\([^ ]*\).*$@\1@p;s@^.*\(<\([^>]*\)>\).*$@\2@p')" -- "$cur" ))
+                sed -ne 's@^pub.*/\([^ ]*\).*$@\1@p' \
+                    -ne 's@^.*\(<\([^>]*\)>\).*$@\2@p' )" -- "$cur" ) )
             return 0
             ;;
         -@(r|-recipient))
diff --git a/contrib/sysv-rc b/contrib/sysv-rc
index ac2062be..a11c9b12 100644
--- a/contrib/sysv-rc
+++ b/contrib/sysv-rc
@@ -93,8 +93,8 @@ _invoke_rc_d()
         ) )
     COMPREPLY=( $( compgen -W '${valid_options[@]} ${services[@]}' -- "$cur" ) )
     elif [ -x $sysvdir/$prev ]; then
-        COMPREPLY=( $( compgen -W '`sed -ne "y/|/ /; \
-            s/^.*Usage:[ ]*[^ ]*[ ]*{*\([^}\"]*\).*$/\1/p" \
+        COMPREPLY=( $( compgen -W '`sed -e "y/|/ /" \
+            -ne "s/^.*Usage:[ ]*[^ ]*[ ]*{*\([^}\"]*\).*$/\1/p" \
             $sysvdir/$prev`' -- "$cur" ) )
     else
         COMPREPLY=()