diff --git a/arguments.c b/arguments.c
index 5a2ea41b..37028648 100644
--- a/arguments.c
+++ b/arguments.c
@@ -21,6 +21,7 @@
 #include <stdlib.h>
 #include <string.h>
 #include <unistd.h>
+#include <vis.h>
 
 #include "tmux.h"
 
@@ -129,9 +130,10 @@ char *
 args_print(struct args *args)
 {
 	size_t		 	 len;
-	char			*buf;
-	int			 i;
+	char			*buf, *escaped;
+	int			 i, flags;
 	struct args_entry	*entry;
+	static const char	 quoted[] = " #\"';$";
 
 	len = 1;
 	buf = xcalloc(1, len);
@@ -155,20 +157,32 @@ args_print(struct args *args)
 			args_print_add(&buf, &len, " -%c ", entry->flag);
 		else
 			args_print_add(&buf, &len, "-%c ", entry->flag);
-		if (strchr(entry->value, ' ') != NULL)
-			args_print_add(&buf, &len, "\"%s\"", entry->value);
+
+		flags = VIS_OCTAL|VIS_TAB|VIS_NL;
+		if (entry->value[strcspn(entry->value, quoted)] != '\0')
+			flags |= VIS_DQ;
+		utf8_stravis(&escaped, entry->value, flags);
+		if (flags & VIS_DQ)
+			args_print_add(&buf, &len, "\"%s\"", escaped);
 		else
-			args_print_add(&buf, &len, "%s", entry->value);
+			args_print_add(&buf, &len, "%s", escaped);
+		free(escaped);
 	}
 
 	/* And finally the argument vector. */
 	for (i = 0; i < args->argc; i++) {
 		if (*buf != '\0')
 			args_print_add(&buf, &len, " ");
-		if (strchr(args->argv[i], ' ') != NULL)
-			args_print_add(&buf, &len, "\"%s\"", args->argv[i]);
+
+		flags = VIS_OCTAL|VIS_TAB|VIS_NL;
+		if (args->argv[i][strcspn(args->argv[i], quoted)] != '\0')
+			flags |= VIS_DQ;
+		utf8_stravis(&escaped, args->argv[i], flags);
+		if (flags & VIS_DQ)
+			args_print_add(&buf, &len, "\"%s\"", escaped);
 		else
-			args_print_add(&buf, &len, "%s", args->argv[i]);
+			args_print_add(&buf, &len, "%s", escaped);
+		free(escaped);
 	}
 
 	return (buf);
diff --git a/cmd-show-options.c b/cmd-show-options.c
index c7621cb8..79a10ead 100644
--- a/cmd-show-options.c
+++ b/cmd-show-options.c
@@ -104,7 +104,7 @@ cmd_show_options_print(struct cmd *self, struct cmdq_item *item,
 	if (args_has(self->args, 'v'))
 		cmdq_print(item, "%s", value);
 	else if (options_isstring(o)) {
-		stravis(&escaped, value, VIS_OCTAL|VIS_TAB|VIS_NL|VIS_DQ);
+		utf8_stravis(&escaped, value, VIS_OCTAL|VIS_TAB|VIS_NL|VIS_DQ);
 		cmdq_print(item, "%s \"%s\"", name, escaped);
 		free(escaped);
 	} else
diff --git a/tmux.h b/tmux.h
index d89fab62..c0daf5f6 100644
--- a/tmux.h
+++ b/tmux.h
@@ -2297,6 +2297,7 @@ enum utf8_state	 utf8_append(struct utf8_data *, u_char);
 enum utf8_state	 utf8_combine(const struct utf8_data *, wchar_t *);
 enum utf8_state	 utf8_split(wchar_t, struct utf8_data *);
 int		 utf8_strvis(char *, const char *, size_t, int);
+int		 utf8_stravis(char **, const char *, int);
 char		*utf8_sanitize(const char *);
 size_t		 utf8_strlen(const struct utf8_data *);
 u_int		 utf8_strwidth(const struct utf8_data *, ssize_t);
diff --git a/utf8.c b/utf8.c
index 9d3f8735..d94a6437 100644
--- a/utf8.c
+++ b/utf8.c
@@ -218,6 +218,20 @@ utf8_strvis(char *dst, const char *src, size_t len, int flag)
 	return (dst - start);
 }
 
+/* Same as utf8_strvis but allocate the buffer. */
+int
+utf8_stravis(char **dst, const char *src, int flag)
+{
+	char	*buf;
+	int	 len;
+
+	buf = xreallocarray(NULL, 4, strlen(src) + 1);
+	len = utf8_strvis(buf, src, strlen(src), flag);
+
+	*dst = xrealloc(buf, len + 1);
+	return (len);
+}
+
 /*
  * Sanitize a string, changing any UTF-8 characters to '_'. Caller should free
  * the returned string. Anything not valid printable ASCII or UTF-8 is