diff --git a/bash-abbr b/bash-abbr
index fcfbf80..14f7136 100644
--- a/bash-abbr
+++ b/bash-abbr
@@ -111,15 +111,21 @@
 #          Therefore, it might interfere with other plugins/custom bindings.
 #          Some bindings may be changed (e.g. \e\C-a...) while others should not (e.g. \C-m)
 
-# Regexes for heuristically determining whether we're abbreviating the first word.
+# Setting IFS to null so we can use "${var[*]}" syntax to make a string out of the meta char array
+_bash_base_meta_chars=('|' '&' ';' '(' ')')
+_bash_meta_chars_without_left_right_angle_brackets=("${_bash_base_meta_chars[@]}" ' ' $'\t' $'\n')
+_bash_meta_chars_without_tab_and_nl=("${_bash_base_meta_chars[@]}" '<' '>' ' ')
+_bash_meta_chars=("${_bash_base_meta_chars[@]}" '<' '>' ' ' $'\t' $'\n')
+
+# Regexes for heuristically determining whether we're doing expansion on the first word.
 # Construction put into functions to prevent global namespace pollution
 # and to increase readability.
 _control_op () {
     declare -r _newline=$'\n' \
-               _bg_proc_or_and_and='[^&;]&&?' \
-               _pipe_or_or_or='[^&|;]\|\|?' \
-               _semicolon_or_case_operators='[^;|];;?&?' \
-               _opening_paren='(^|[^[:alnum:]])\('
+               _bg_proc_or_and_and='[^\\](\\\\)*&&?' \
+               _pipe_or_or_or='[^\\](\\\\)*\|\|?' \
+               _semicolon_or_case_operators='[^\\](\\\\)*;;?&?' \
+               _opening_paren='(^|[^[:alnum:]\\])(\\\\)*\('
     declare _control_op="^"
     _control_op+="|$_newline"
     _control_op+="|$_bg_proc_or_and_and"
@@ -190,11 +196,14 @@ _try_abbrev_internal () {
     # set a variable defined in the calling context. This level is just appended to the identifier to make it unique
     # across all the recursive calls.
 
+    # IFS must be null so "${var[*]}" concatenates without space
+    declare -r IFS=
+
     # If the self-insertion character is null (i.e. when pressing enter/accepting a line),
     # then we also want to expand aliases if the cursor/point is *on* the word instead of just *after* the word.
     if [[ -z $self_insertion ]]; then
         line_from_point=${line:point}
-        trailing_part_of_word=${line_from_point%%[<>&;()|[:space:]]*}
+        trailing_part_of_word=${line_from_point%%["${_bash_meta_chars[*]}"]*}
         # Move point forward to right after the word. Keep mark where it is.
         point=$((point+${#trailing_part_of_word}))
     fi
@@ -202,13 +211,13 @@ _try_abbrev_internal () {
 
     if
         # Check if the character at point is a shell metacharacter or EOL
-        # [[ $point -eq ${#line} || "${line:point:1}" = [\<\>\&\;\(\)\|[:space:]] ]] &&
+        # [[ $point -eq ${#line} || "${line:point:1}" = ["${_bash_meta_chars[*]}"] ]] &&
         # NOTE: Above line commented out, it's actually not that useful.
 
         # Determine word to complete
         # Uses the same word separators as bash (| & ; ( ) space tab newline) (aka "shell metacharacters")
         # But < and > are ignored, since they always expect a file/delimiter/string afterwards and not a command
-        declare -r word_at_point=${line_until_point##*[&;()|[:space:]]} &&
+        declare -r word_at_point=${line_until_point##*["${_bash_meta_chars_without_left_right_angle_brackets[*]}"]} &&
 
         # Ensure that word does not contain either < or >
         [[ ! $word_at_point =~ [\<\>] ]] &&
@@ -260,7 +269,7 @@ _try_abbrev_internal () {
         # Recursively expand replacement if we haven't expanded it already
         declare tmp=" $replacement" # Prepend space, makes the logic easier
         [[ $tmp =~ ^([[:blank:]]*$is_first_word_prefix) ]] && tmp=${tmp#"${BASH_REMATCH[1]}"} # Strip matching prefix
-        declare -r word_to_expand=${tmp%%[<>&;()|[:space:]]*}
+        declare -r word_to_expand=${tmp%%["${_bash_meta_chars[*]}"]*}
         if [[ -z ${_expanded_aliases[$word_to_expand]-} ]]; then
             declare -r point_for_replacement=$((${#BASH_REMATCH[1]}+${#word_to_expand}))
             declare -g "ret_$level"
@@ -307,20 +316,23 @@ _try_abbrev () {
     _try_abbrev_internal "$READLINE_LINE" "$READLINE_POINT" "$READLINE_MARK" READLINE_LINE READLINE_POINT READLINE_MARK "$@"
 
     # Don't pollute global namespace
-    unset -v _expanded_aliases
+    declare -gA _expanded_aliases=()
 }
 
 bash_abbr () {
+    # IFS must be null so "${var[*]}" concatenates without space
+    declare -r IFS=
+
     # From the bash man page:
     #   metacharacter
     #     A character that, when unquoted, separates words. One of the following:
     #     | & ; ( ) < > space tab newline
     # Note: double quote should be escaped, if added to the list of metacharacters
     declare ch
-    for ch in ' ' '|' '&' ';' '(' ')' '<' '>'; do
-        bind -x '"\e\C-a'"$ch"'": _try_abbrev "'"$ch"'"'
-        bind    '"'"$ch"'": "\e\C-a'"$ch"'"'
-        # bind    '"'"$ch"'": "\e\C-a'"$ch"'\e^"' # TODO fix. Moves point weirdly atm.
+    for ch in "${_bash_meta_chars_without_tab_and_nl[@]}"; do
+        bind_if -x '"\e\C-a'"$ch"'": _try_abbrev "'"$ch"'"'
+        bind_if    '"'"$ch"'": "\e\C-a'"$ch"'"'
+        # bind_if    '"'"$ch"'": "\e\C-a'"$ch"'\e^"' # TODO fix. Moves point weirdly atm.
     done
 
     # TODO To get it fully working in all edge cases (as far as we can parse),