diff --git a/bin/getwhitespace.sh b/bin/getwhitespace.sh
index 213b16f5ce9d9b741f8b1ab56215546cb4708ec1..4dd0490d0d0c48ccc2bf74f5a8e617abf565a7fd 100755
--- a/bin/getwhitespace.sh
+++ b/bin/getwhitespace.sh
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 #!/bin/sh
 
-echo "/* File generated on `date`
+printf "/* File generated on `date`
 by getwhitespace <UnicodeData.txt */
 
 #define SPACECASE8							\\
@@ -8,7 +8,7 @@ by getwhitespace <UnicodeData.txt */
        case 0x85:case 0xa0:
 "
 
-echo '#define SPACECASE16	SPACECASE8 \'
+printf '#define SPACECASE16	SPACECASE8 '
 sed -n -e '
 s/^\([0-9A-Fa-f]*\);[^;]*;[^;]*;[^;]*;\([^;]*\);/\1 \2 /
 /;INFORMATION SEPARATOR /d