diff --git a/lib/termsupport.zsh b/lib/termsupport.zsh
index 22e7f372f..d85bf60b8 100644
--- a/lib/termsupport.zsh
+++ b/lib/termsupport.zsh
@@ -4,11 +4,16 @@
 #Limited support for Apple Terminal (Terminal can't set window or tab separately)
 function title {
   [ "$DISABLE_AUTO_TITLE" != "true" ] || return
+  local e1="$1" e2="$2"
+  if [[ "$TITLE_NO_ESCAPE" != 1 ]]; then
+    e1="$1:q"
+    e2="$1:q"
+  fi
   if [[ "$TERM" == screen* ]]; then 
-    print -Pn "\ek$1:q\e\\" #set screen hardstatus, usually truncated at 20 chars
+    print -Pn "\ek$e1\e\\" #set screen hardstatus, usually truncated at 20 chars
   elif [[ "$TERM" == xterm* ]] || [[ $TERM == rxvt* ]] || [[ "$TERM_PROGRAM" == "iTerm.app" ]]; then
-    print -Pn "\e]2;$2:q\a" #set window name
-    print -Pn "\e]1;$1:q\a" #set icon (=tab) name (will override window name on broken terminal)
+    print -Pn "\e]2;$e2\a" #set window name
+    print -Pn "\e]1;$e1\a" #set icon (=tab) name (will override window name on broken terminal)
   fi
 }
 
@@ -25,5 +30,8 @@ function preexec {
   emulate -L zsh
   setopt extended_glob
   local CMD=${1[(wr)^(*=*|sudo|ssh|-*)]} #cmd name only, or if this is sudo or ssh, the next cmd
-  title "$CMD" "%100>...>$2%<<"
+  local psvar
+  psvar[1]="$CMD"
+  psvar[2]="$2"
+  TITLE_NO_ESCAPE=1 title "%1v" "%100>...>%2v%<<"
 }