diff --git a/pkgs/applications/editors/emacs/build-support/wrapper.nix b/pkgs/applications/editors/emacs/build-support/wrapper.nix
index 81329808716b..72bf7a242d2f 100644
--- a/pkgs/applications/editors/emacs/build-support/wrapper.nix
+++ b/pkgs/applications/editors/emacs/build-support/wrapper.nix
@@ -75,7 +75,7 @@ runCommand
           # well :D.
           local varSlice="$var[*]"
           # ''${..-} to hack around old bash empty array problem
-          case "''${!varSlice-}" in
+          case " ''${!varSlice-} " in
               *" $pkg "*) return 0 ;;
           esac
           unset -v varSlice
diff --git a/pkgs/desktops/lomiri/qml/lomiri-ui-toolkit/2001-Mark-problematic-tests.patch b/pkgs/desktops/lomiri/qml/lomiri-ui-toolkit/2001-Mark-problematic-tests.patch
index dc1d1e2083c0..7f2a4daab565 100644
--- a/pkgs/desktops/lomiri/qml/lomiri-ui-toolkit/2001-Mark-problematic-tests.patch
+++ b/pkgs/desktops/lomiri/qml/lomiri-ui-toolkit/2001-Mark-problematic-tests.patch
@@ -108,7 +108,7 @@ index fc498985e..b5d204d0d 100755
      if [ $ERRORS -ne 0 ]; then
 -      FAILURES_FILES="${FAILURES_FILES}  ${_TESTNAME}\n"
 -      ((FAILURES+=$ERRORS))
-+      if [[ $ERROR_EXCEPTIONS == *" $_TESTNAME "* ]]; then
++      if [[ " $ERROR_EXCEPTIONS " == *" $_TESTNAME "* ]]; then
 +        EXCEPTED_FAILURES_FILES="${EXCEPTED_FAILURES_FILES}  ${_TESTNAME}\n"
 +        ((EXCEPTED_FAILURES+=$ERRORS))
 +      else
@@ -117,7 +117,7 @@ index fc498985e..b5d204d0d 100755
 +      fi
      elif [ $WARNINGS -ne 0 ]; then
 -      if [[ $EXCEPTIONS == *$_TESTNAME* ]]; then
-+      if [[ $EXCEPTIONS == *" $_TESTNAME "* ]]; then
++      if [[ " $EXCEPTIONS " == *" $_TESTNAME "* ]]; then
          EXCEPTED_FILES="${EXCEPTED_FILES}  ${_TESTNAME}\n"
          ((EXCEPTED+=$WARNINGS))
        else
@@ -125,7 +125,7 @@ index fc498985e..b5d204d0d 100755
          ((FATAL_WARNINGS+=$WARNINGS))
        fi
 -    elif [[ $EXCEPTIONS == *$_TESTNAME* ]]; then
-+    elif [[ $ERROR_EXCEPTIONS == *" $_TESTNAME "* || $EXCEPTIONS == *" $_TESTNAME "* ]]; then
++    elif [[ " $ERROR_EXCEPTIONS " == *" $_TESTNAME "* || " $EXCEPTIONS " == *" $_TESTNAME "* ]]; then
        WOOT_FILES="${WOOT_FILES}  ${_TESTNAME}\n"
      fi
  done
diff --git a/pkgs/development/interpreters/tcl/tcl-package-hook.sh b/pkgs/development/interpreters/tcl/tcl-package-hook.sh
index 8548ac66402f..b1c89f8dacf2 100644
--- a/pkgs/development/interpreters/tcl/tcl-package-hook.sh
+++ b/pkgs/development/interpreters/tcl/tcl-package-hook.sh
@@ -23,7 +23,7 @@ _addToTclLibPath() {
     if [[ -z "${TCLLIBPATH-}" ]]; then
         export TCLLIBPATH="$tclPkg"
     else
-        if [[ "$TCLLIBPATH" != *"$tclPkg "* && "$TCLLIBPATH" != *"$tclPkg" ]]; then
+        if [[ "$TCLLIBPATH " != *"$tclPkg "* ]]; then
             export TCLLIBPATH="${TCLLIBPATH} $tclPkg"
         fi
     fi
diff --git a/pkgs/stdenv/generic/setup.sh b/pkgs/stdenv/generic/setup.sh
index 79997237482f..04382f4a8933 100644
--- a/pkgs/stdenv/generic/setup.sh
+++ b/pkgs/stdenv/generic/setup.sh
@@ -683,7 +683,7 @@ findInputs() {
     # shellcheck disable=SC1087
     local varSlice="$var[*]"
     # ${..-} to hack around old bash empty array problem
-    case "${!varSlice-}" in
+    case " ${!varSlice-} " in
         *" $pkg "*) return 0 ;;
     esac
     unset -v varSlice