diff --git a/tests/test-clone-pull-corruption.t b/tests/test-clone-pull-corruption.t
--- a/tests/test-clone-pull-corruption.t
+++ b/tests/test-clone-pull-corruption.t
@@ -16,7 +16,7 @@ Add a hook to wait 5 seconds and then ab
 
   $ cd ../corrupted
   $ echo "[hooks]" >> .hg/hgrc
-  $ echo "pretxncommit = sh -c 'sleep 5; exit 1'" >> .hg/hgrc
+  $ echo 'pretxncommit = sh -c "sleep 5; exit 1"' >> .hg/hgrc
 
 start a commit...
 
diff --git a/tests/test-pending.t b/tests/test-pending.t
--- a/tests/test-pending.t
+++ b/tests/test-pending.t
@@ -120,7 +120,7 @@ Test that pending on transaction without
   $ cat <<EOF > parent/.hg/hgrc
   > [hooks]
   > pretxnchangegroup=
-  > pretxnclose = hg tip -T 'tip: {node|short}\n'
+  > pretxnclose = hg tip -T "tip: {node|short}\n"
   > [phases]
   > publishing=False
   > EOF