diff --git a/lib/helpers.bash b/lib/helpers.bash
index a528c14c..9b95fe65 100755
--- a/lib/helpers.bash
+++ b/lib/helpers.bash
@@ -340,7 +340,7 @@ _bash-it-migrate() {
   do
     for f in `sort <(compgen -G "${BASH_IT}/$file_type/enabled/*.bash")`
     do
-      typeset ff=$(basename $f)
+      typeset ff="${f##*/}"
 
       # Get the type of component from the extension
       typeset single_type=$(echo $ff | sed -e 's/.*\.\(.*\)\.bash/\1/g' | sed 's/aliases/alias/g')
@@ -501,7 +501,7 @@ _bash-it-describe ()
     do
         # Check for both the old format without the load priority, and the extended format with the priority
         declare enabled_files enabled_file
-        enabled_file=$(basename $f)
+		enabled_file="${f##*/}"
         enabled_files=$(sort <(compgen -G "${BASH_IT}/enabled/*$BASH_IT_LOAD_PRIORITY_SEPARATOR${enabled_file}") <(compgen -G "${BASH_IT}/$subdirectory/enabled/${enabled_file}") <(compgen -G "${BASH_IT}/$subdirectory/enabled/*$BASH_IT_LOAD_PRIORITY_SEPARATOR${enabled_file}") | wc -l)
 
         if [ $enabled_files -gt 0 ]; then
@@ -603,9 +603,9 @@ _disable-thing ()
               printf '%s\n' "sorry, $file_entity does not appear to be an enabled $file_type."
               return
           fi
-          rm "${BASH_IT}/$subdirectory/enabled/$(basename $plugin)"
+          rm "${BASH_IT}/$subdirectory/enabled/${plugin##*/}"
         else
-          rm "${BASH_IT}/enabled/$(basename $plugin_global)"
+          rm "${BASH_IT}/enabled/${plugin_global##*/}"
         fi
     fi
 
@@ -681,7 +681,7 @@ _enable-thing ()
             return
         fi
 
-        to_enable=$(basename $to_enable)
+		to_enable="${to_enable##*/}"
         # Check for existence of the file using a wildcard, since we don't know which priority might have been used when enabling it.
         typeset enabled_plugin=$(command ls "${BASH_IT}/$subdirectory/enabled/"{[0-9][0-9][0-9]$BASH_IT_LOAD_PRIORITY_SEPARATOR$to_enable,$to_enable} 2>/dev/null | head -1)
         if [ ! -z "$enabled_plugin" ] ; then
diff --git a/plugins/available/jekyll.plugin.bash b/plugins/available/jekyll.plugin.bash
index 6254a87f..c340c432 100644
--- a/plugins/available/jekyll.plugin.bash
+++ b/plugins/available/jekyll.plugin.bash
@@ -16,7 +16,7 @@ editpost() {
 
   for site in ${SITES[@]}
   do
-    if [ "$(basename $site)" = "$1" ]
+    if [ "${site##*/}" = "$1" ]
     then
       SITE=$site
       break
@@ -77,7 +77,7 @@ newpost() {
 
   for site in ${SITES[@]}
   do
-    if [ "$(basename $site)" = "$1" ]
+    if [ "${site##*/}" = "$1" ]
     then
       SITE=$site
       JEKYLL_FORMATTING=${MARKUPS[$loc]}
@@ -280,7 +280,7 @@ function testsite() {
 
   for site in ${SITES[@]}
   do
-    if [ "$(basename $site)" = "$1" ]
+    if [ "${site##*/}" = "$1" ]
     then
       SITE=$site
       break
@@ -312,7 +312,7 @@ function buildsite() {
 
   for site in ${SITES[@]}
   do
-    if [ "$(basename $site)" = "$1" ]
+    if [ "${site##*/}" = "$1" ]
     then
       SITE=$site
       break
@@ -347,7 +347,7 @@ function deploysite() {
 
   for site in ${SITES[@]}
   do
-    if [ "$(basename $site)" = "$1" ]
+    if [ "${site##*/}" = "$1" ]
     then
       SITE=$site
       REMOTE=${REMOTES[$loc]}
diff --git a/plugins/available/osx-timemachine.plugin.bash b/plugins/available/osx-timemachine.plugin.bash
index f29d6ece..3d7ff00c 100644
--- a/plugins/available/osx-timemachine.plugin.bash
+++ b/plugins/available/osx-timemachine.plugin.bash
@@ -15,7 +15,7 @@ function time-machine-list-machines() {
   local tmdest="$(time-machine-destination)/Backups.backupdb"
 
   find "$tmdest" -maxdepth 1 -mindepth 1 -type d | grep -v "/\." | while read line ; do
-    echo "$(basename "$line")"
+    echo "${line##*/}"
   done
 }
 
diff --git a/plugins/available/virtualenv.plugin.bash b/plugins/available/virtualenv.plugin.bash
index 468870cd..f1c85987 100644
--- a/plugins/available/virtualenv.plugin.bash
+++ b/plugins/available/virtualenv.plugin.bash
@@ -14,8 +14,8 @@ function mkvenv {
   about 'create a new virtualenv for this directory'
   group 'virtualenv'
 
-  cwd=`basename \`pwd\``
-  mkvirtualenv --distribute $cwd
+  local cwd="${PWD##*/}"
+  mkvirtualenv --distribute "$cwd"
 }
 
 
@@ -23,19 +23,21 @@ function mkvbranch {
   about 'create a new virtualenv for the current branch'
   group 'virtualenv'
 
-  mkvirtualenv --distribute "$(basename `pwd`)@$SCM_BRANCH"
+  local cwd="${PWD##*/}"
+  mkvirtualenv --distribute "${cwd}@${SCM_BRANCH}"
 }
 
 function wovbranch {
   about 'sets workon branch'
   group 'virtualenv'
 
-  workon "$(basename `pwd`)@$SCM_BRANCH"
+  local cwd="${PWD##*/}"
+  workon "${cwd}@${SCM_BRANCH}"
 }
 
 function wovenv {
   about 'works on the virtualenv for this directory'
   group 'virtualenv'
 
-  workon "$(basename `pwd`)"
+  workon "${PWD##*/}"
 }