diff --git a/bash_completion b/bash_completion
index 3e5c813a..dc62ec44 100644
--- a/bash_completion
+++ b/bash_completion
@@ -1850,7 +1850,7 @@ _filedir_xspec()
     xspec="$matchop($xspec|${xspec^^})"
 
     toks+=( $(
-        eval compgen -f -X "!$xspec" -- "\$(quote_readline "\$cur")" | {
+        eval compgen -f -X "'!$xspec'" -- "\$(quote_readline "\$cur")" | {
         while read -r tmp; do
             [[ -n $tmp ]] && printf '%s\n' $tmp
         done