I've solved this problem with the following 2 POSIX functions. https://mullikine.github.io/posts/missing-posix-shell-functions-cmd-and-myeval/ https://mullikin

I've solved this problem with the following 2 POSIX functions. https://mullikine.github.io/posts/missing-posix-shell-functions-cmd-and-myeval/ https://mullikine.github.io/posts/missing-posix-shell-functi... cmd() { for var in "$@"; do printf "'%s' " "$(printf %s "$var" | sed "s/'/'\\\\''/g")"; done | sed 's/ $//'; } myeval() { eval "$(cmd "$@")"; } `cmd` is by far the most useful of the two. It returns the arguments it was given, properly escaped. You can use it to capture the arguments as a string and then pass them to ssh. # The following captures the arguments to the running script as a string. CMD="$(cmd "$@")" # Another example, could be putting some command into a string. CMD="$(cmd echo "This will run on the server")" # Then you run ssh as follows. ssh remotehost "$CMD" # Or something like this. ssh remotehost "$(cmd echo "This will run on the server")" The real power is in nesting! ssh remotehost "$(cmd echo "This will run on the server" "$(cmd "Now I don't need" "to worry" "$(cmd About "escaping escapes")")")" That will generate these escapes. 'ssh' 'remotehost' ''\''echo'\'' '\''This will run on the server'\'' '\'''\''\'\'''\''Now I don'\''\'\'''\''\'\''\'\'''\'''\''\'\'''\''t need'\''\'\'''\'' '\''\'\'''\''to worry'\''\'\'''\'' '\''\'\'''\'''\''\'\'''\''\'\''\'\'''\'''\''\'\'''\''About'\''\'\'''\''\'\''\'\'''\'''\''\'\'''\'' '\''\'\'''\''\'\''\'\'''\'''\''\'\'''\''escaping escapes'\''\'\'''\''\'\''\'\'''\'''\''\'\'''\'''\''\'\'''\'''\'''