diff --git a/share/fish.in b/share/fish.in
index ccf9ca372..df3433bc4 100644
--- a/share/fish.in
+++ b/share/fish.in
@@ -55,11 +55,10 @@ end
 
 # Make a regular expression that matches any component in the PATH. A
 # trailing slash is ok. The sed call is to remove the last '\|'.  
+set -l tmp (printf "%s" \^$PATH'/?$|')
+set -l path_regexp \((echo $tmp | sed -e "s/.\$//")\)
 
-
-set -l path_regexp \\\((printf "%s" \^$PATH'\(\|/\)$\|' | sed -e "s/..\$//")\\\)
-
-for i in (printf "%s\n" $path_list|grep -v $path_regexp)
+for i in (printf "%s\n" $path_list|grep -E -v $path_regexp)
 	if test -d $i
 		set PATH $PATH $i
 	end
@@ -109,7 +108,7 @@ end
 # Completions for the shell and it's builtin commands and functions
 #
 
-for i in (builtin -n|grep -v '\(while\|for\|if\|function\|switch\)' )
+for i in (builtin -n|grep -E -v '(while|for|if|function|switch)' )
 	complete -c $i -s h -l help -d "Display help and exit"
 end