diff --git a/nvm-exec b/nvm-exec
index 536d2aa..8f18e98 100755
--- a/nvm-exec
+++ b/nvm-exec
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 #!/usr/bin/env bash
 
 SOURCE=${BASH_SOURCE[0]}
-test -L "$SOURCE" && SOURCE=`readlink "$SOURCE"`
+test -L "$SOURCE" && SOURCE=$(readlink "$SOURCE")
 DIR="$(command cd "$( dirname "$SOURCE" )" && pwd )"
 
 unset NVM_CD_FLAGS
diff --git a/nvm.sh b/nvm.sh
index 7261b4b..95d165d 100644
--- a/nvm.sh
+++ b/nvm.sh
@@ -3872,7 +3872,7 @@ nvm() {
         fi
       fi
       NVM_EXEC="$NVM_DIR/nvm-exec"
-      test ! -f "$NVM_EXEC" && NVM_EXEC=`dirname ${BASH_SOURCE[0]-}`/nvm-exec
+      test ! -f "$NVM_EXEC" && NVM_EXEC="$(dirname "${BASH_SOURCE[0]-}")/nvm-exec"
       NODE_VERSION="$VERSION" "$NVM_EXEC" "$@"
     ;;
     "ls" | "list")