diff --git a/lib/omb-prompt-base.sh b/lib/omb-prompt-base.sh
index 4bb6e3136..3a8904002 100644
--- a/lib/omb-prompt-base.sh
+++ b/lib/omb-prompt-base.sh
@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
 #! bash oh-my-bash.module
 
+_omb_module_require lib:omb-util
 _omb_module_require lib:omb-deprecate
 _omb_module_require lib:omb-prompt-colors
 
@@ -101,7 +102,9 @@ function _omb_prompt_format {
     local __suffix=${3#*:}_SUFFIX; __suffix=${!__suffix-} # deprecate name
     __format=${__prefix//'%'/'%%'}%s${__suffix//'%'/'%%'}
   fi
-  printf -v "$1" "$__format" "$2"
+  local REPLY
+  _omb_string_escape_prompt "$2"
+  printf -v "$1" "$__format" "$REPLY"
 }
 
 function _omb_prompt_git {
diff --git a/lib/omb-util.sh b/lib/omb-util.sh
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..a93fecfa0
--- /dev/null
+++ b/lib/omb-util.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,14 @@
+#! bash oh-my-bash.module
+
+function _omb_string_escape_prompt {
+  REPLY=$1
+  local specialchars='\`$'
+  if [[ $REPLY == ["$specialchars"] ]]; then
+    local i n=${#specialchars} a b
+    for ((i=0;i<n;i++)); do
+      a=${specialchars:i:1}
+      b='\'$a
+      REPLY=${REPLY//"$a"/"$b"}
+    done
+  fi
+}