diff --git a/pkgs/applications/video/kino/default.nix b/pkgs/applications/video/kino/default.nix
index 4ddd84433e8..1b9f0d0997a 100644
--- a/pkgs/applications/video/kino/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/applications/video/kino/default.nix
@@ -80,7 +80,7 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation {
 
   postInstall = "
     rpath=`patchelf --print-rpath \$out/bin/kino`;
-    for i in $\buildInputs; do
+    for i in $buildInputs; do
       echo adding \$i/lib
       rpath=\$rpath\${rpath:+:}\$i/lib
     done
diff --git a/pkgs/development/haskell-modules/hackage-packages.nix b/pkgs/development/haskell-modules/hackage-packages.nix
index 3b91b02ffad..f83f15d1285 100644
--- a/pkgs/development/haskell-modules/hackage-packages.nix
+++ b/pkgs/development/haskell-modules/hackage-packages.nix
@@ -57630,7 +57630,7 @@ self: {
        version = "0.1.0.1";
        sha256 = "0rwi5zwvqn18g7qyp9aw51w3yzkqbff9g7rcqdk1l871fvq8qhha";
        libraryHaskellDepends = [ base ];
-       description = "Haskell operator `g ... f = \x1 .. xn -> g (f x1 .. xn)`.";
+       description = "Haskell operator `g ... f = \\x1 .. xn -> g (f x1 .. xn)`.";
        license = stdenv.lib.licenses.bsd3;
      }) {};
 
@@ -251536,7 +251536,7 @@ self: {
          base containers exceptions free spiros split text transformers
        ];
        executableHaskellDepends = [ base ];
-       description = "Automate keyboard\/mouse\/clipboard\/application interaction";
+       description = "Automate keyboard/mouse/clipboard/application interaction";
        license = stdenv.lib.licenses.bsd3;
        hydraPlatforms = stdenv.lib.platforms.none;
        broken = true;
diff --git a/pkgs/development/tools/misc/ctags/wrapped.nix b/pkgs/development/tools/misc/ctags/wrapped.nix
index 869e7a61121..08f8049aa8a 100644
--- a/pkgs/development/tools/misc/ctags/wrapped.nix
+++ b/pkgs/development/tools/misc/ctags/wrapped.nix
@@ -27,10 +27,10 @@ with pkgs.stdenv.lib;
 
   # don't scan version control directories
   defaultArgs = [
-    "--exclude=\.svn"
-    "--exclude=\.hg"
-    "--exclude=\.git"
-    "--exclude=\_darcs"
+    "--exclude=.svn"
+    "--exclude=.hg"
+    "--exclude=.git"
+    "--exclude=_darcs"
     "--sort=yes"
   ];
 
@@ -38,8 +38,8 @@ with pkgs.stdenv.lib;
   asLang = [
     "--langdef=ActionScript"
     "--langmap=ActionScript:.as"
-    "--regex-ActionScript=/function[ \\t]+([A-Za-z0-9_]+)[ \\t]*\\(/\1/f,function,functions/"
-    "--regex-ActionScript=/function[ \\t]+(set|get)[ \\t]+([A-Za-z0-9_]+)[ \\t]*\\(/\2/p,property,properties/"
+    "--regex-ActionScript=/function[ \\t]+([A-Za-z0-9_]+)[ \\t]*\\(/\\1/f,function,functions/"
+    "--regex-ActionScript=/function[ \\t]+(set|get)[ \\t]+([A-Za-z0-9_]+)[ \\t]*\\(/\\2/p,property,properties/"
     "--regex-ActionScript=/interface[ \\t]+[a-z0-9_.]*([A-Z][A-Za-z0-9_]+)/\\1/i,interface,interfaces/"
     "--regex-ActionScript=/package[ \\t]+([^ \\t]*)/\\1/p/"
     "--regex-ActionScript=/class[ \\t]+[a-z0-9_.]*([A-Z][A-Za-z0-9_]+)/\\1/c,class,classes/"
@@ -67,7 +67,7 @@ with pkgs.stdenv.lib;
   nixLang = [
     "--langdef=NIX"
     "--langmap=NIX:.nix"
-    "--regex-NIX=/\([^ \\t*]*\)[ \\t]*=/\\1/f/"
+    "--regex-NIX=/([^ \\t*]*)[ \\t]*=/\\1/f/"
   ];
 
   rubyLang = [
diff --git a/pkgs/os-specific/darwin/apple-source-releases/system_cmds/default.nix b/pkgs/os-specific/darwin/apple-source-releases/system_cmds/default.nix
index 03556296ca1..16454cbc1a5 100644
--- a/pkgs/os-specific/darwin/apple-source-releases/system_cmds/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/os-specific/darwin/apple-source-releases/system_cmds/default.nix
@@ -14,8 +14,8 @@ appleDerivation {
   #                    + lib.optionalString hostPlatform.isAarch32 "-D__arm__";
   NIX_CFLAGS_COMPILE = [ "-DDAEMON_UID=1"
                          "-DDAEMON_GID=1"
-                         "-DDEFAULT_AT_QUEUE=\'a\'"
-                         "-DDEFAULT_BATCH_QUEUE=\'b\'"
+                         "-DDEFAULT_AT_QUEUE='a'"
+                         "-DDEFAULT_BATCH_QUEUE='b'"
                          "-DPERM_PATH=\"/usr/lib/cron/\""
                          "-DOPEN_DIRECTORY"
                          "-DNO_DIRECT_RPC"
diff --git a/pkgs/tools/typesetting/tex/texlive/combine.nix b/pkgs/tools/typesetting/tex/texlive/combine.nix
index 69fde7784f5..6622a03decc 100644
--- a/pkgs/tools/typesetting/tex/texlive/combine.nix
+++ b/pkgs/tools/typesetting/tex/texlive/combine.nix
@@ -136,9 +136,9 @@ in buildEnv {
     script =
       writeText "hyphens.sed" (
         # pick up the header
-        "1,/^\% from/p;"
+        "1,/^% from/p;"
         # pick up all sections matching packages that we combine
-        + lib.concatMapStrings (pname: "/^\% from ${pname}:$/,/^\%/p;\n") pnames
+        + lib.concatMapStrings (pname: "/^% from ${pname}:$/,/^%/p;\n") pnames
       );
   in ''
     (