diff --git a/lib/Directory/Simplify/Utils.pm b/lib/Directory/Simplify/Utils.pm
index 54d395f..37bea38 100644
--- a/lib/Directory/Simplify/Utils.pm
+++ b/lib/Directory/Simplify/Utils.pm
@@ -39,12 +39,11 @@ sub hr_size {
 sub shell_quote {
     # shell-escape argument for inclusion in non-interpolated single quotes
     my @words = @_;
-    my @transformed = map {
-        (my $out = $_)
-            =~ s/'/'\\''/g;
-        "'$out'";
-    } @words;
-    return wantarray ? @transformed : $transformed[0];
+    foreach my $word (@words) {
+        $word =~ s/'/'\\''/g;
+        $word = "'$word'";
+    }
+    return wantarray ? @words : $words[0];
 }
 
 1;