diff --git a/src/vs/workbench/contrib/debug/node/terminals.ts b/src/vs/workbench/contrib/debug/node/terminals.ts
index c27c88f27a6..5f89e708bc7 100644
--- a/src/vs/workbench/contrib/debug/node/terminals.ts
+++ b/src/vs/workbench/contrib/debug/node/terminals.ts
@@ -121,7 +121,7 @@ export function prepareCommand(shell: string, args: string[], cwd?: string, env?
 
 			quote = (s: string) => {
 				s = s.replace(/\"/g, '""');
-				return (s.indexOf(' ') >= 0 || s.indexOf('"') >= 0 || s.length === 0) ? `"${s}"` : s;
+				return (' "><!^&'.split('').some(char => s.includes(char)) || s.length === 0) ? `"${s}"` : s;
 			};
 
 			if (cwd) {
@@ -154,8 +154,8 @@ export function prepareCommand(shell: string, args: string[], cwd?: string, env?
 		case ShellType.bash: {
 
 			quote = (s: string) => {
-				s = s.replace(/(["'\\\$])/g, '\\$1');
-				return (s.indexOf(' ') >= 0 || s.indexOf(';') >= 0 || s.length === 0) ? `"${s}"` : s;
+				s = s.replace(/(["'\\\$!><#()\[\]*&^])/g, '\\$1');
+				return (' ;'.split('').some(char => s.includes(char)) || s.length === 0) ? `"${s}"` : s;
 			};
 
 			const hardQuote = (s: string) => {