diff --git a/Library/Homebrew/exceptions.rb b/Library/Homebrew/exceptions.rb
index 0a5526a5f4..9dbb894498 100644
--- a/Library/Homebrew/exceptions.rb
+++ b/Library/Homebrew/exceptions.rb
@@ -479,7 +479,7 @@ class BuildError < RuntimeError
     @cmd = cmd
     @args = args
     @env = env
-    pretty_args = Array(args).map { |arg| arg.to_s.gsub " ", "\\ " }.join(" ")
+    pretty_args = Array(args).map { |arg| arg.to_s.gsub(/[\\ ]/, "\\\\\\0") }.join(" ")
     super "Failed executing: #{cmd} #{pretty_args}".strip
   end