diff --git a/nvm-exec b/nvm-exec
index adbdbda6b18..d95c25c95c6 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 )"
 
 # shellcheck disable=SC1090
diff --git a/nvm.sh b/nvm.sh
index c0a240f59ce..1518b803a5e 100644
--- a/nvm.sh
+++ b/nvm.sh
@@ -3202,7 +3202,7 @@ 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" )