diff --git a/kill.cpp b/kill.cpp
index 36426af51..36d4d63cb 100644
--- a/kill.cpp
+++ b/kill.cpp
@@ -104,11 +104,13 @@ void kill_add( wchar_t *str )
 	   I couldn't think of a safe way to allow overide of the echo
 	   command too, so, the command used must accept the input via stdin.
 	*/
-	wchar_t *clipboard;
-	if( (clipboard = env_get(L"FISH_CLIPBOARD_CMD")) )
+
+	const wcstring clipboard_wstr = env_get_string(L"FISH_CLIPBOARD_CMD");
+//	const wchar_t *clipboard = clipboard_wstr.empty()?NULL:clipboard.c_str();
+	if( !clipboard_wstr.empty() )
 	{
 		escaped_str = escape( str, 1 );
-		cmd = wcsdupcat(L"echo -n ", escaped_str, clipboard);
+		cmd = wcsdupcat(L"echo -n ", escaped_str, clipboard_wstr.c_str());
 	}
 	else
 	{
@@ -117,8 +119,9 @@ void kill_add( wchar_t *str )
 			return;
 		}
 
-	wchar_t *disp;
-	if( (disp = env_get( L"DISPLAY" )) )
+	const wcstring disp_wstr = env_get_string( L"DISPLAY" );
+//	wchar_t *disp = disp_wstr.empty()?NULL:disp_wstr.c_str();
+	if( !disp_wstr.empty() )
 	{
 			escaped_str = escape( str, 1 );
 			cmd = wcsdupcat(L"echo ", escaped_str, L"|xsel -b" );
@@ -215,13 +218,13 @@ wchar_t *kill_yank_rotate()
 */
 static void kill_check_x_buffer()
 {	
-	wchar_t *disp;
+	wcstring disp;
 	
 	if( !has_xsel() )
 		return;
 	
 	
-	if( (disp = env_get( L"DISPLAY" )) )
+	if( (!(disp = env_get_string( L"DISPLAY" )).empty()) )
 	{
 		size_t i;
 		wcstring cmd = L"xsel -t 500 -b";