diff --git a/liquidprompt b/liquidprompt
index 4f99ed3..2aefd4a 100755
--- a/liquidprompt
+++ b/liquidprompt
@@ -195,7 +195,7 @@ __cpunum_Darwin()
 
 __cpunum_SunOS()
 {
-    kstat -m cpu_info | grep "module: cpu_info"  | wc -l
+    kstat -m cpu_info | grep -c "module: cpu_info"
 }
 
 __CPUNUM=$(__cpunum_$OS)
@@ -256,8 +256,8 @@ __user()
 
 __connection()
 {
-    THIS_TTY=tty$(ps aux | grep $$ | grep bash | awk '{ print $7 }')
-    SESS_SRC=$(who | grep $THIS_TTY | awk '{ print $6 }')
+    THIS_TTY=tty$(ps aux | awk -v pid=$$ '$0 ~ pid && /bash/{ print $7 }')
+    SESS_SRC=$(who | awk -v thistty="$THIS_TTY" '$0 ~ thistty { print $6 }')
 
     # Are we in an SSH connexion?
     SSH_FLAG=0
@@ -438,8 +438,8 @@ __permissions_color()
 # or detached screens sessions running on the host
 __jobcount_color()
 {
-    local running=$(jobs -r | wc -l | tr -d " ")
-    local stopped=$(jobs -s | wc -l | tr -d " ")
+    local running=$(( $(jobs -r | wc -l) ))
+    local stopped=$(( $(jobs -s | wc -l) ))
     local screens=$(screen -ls 2> /dev/null | grep -c Detach )
     local m_detached="d"
     local m_stop="z"
@@ -562,7 +562,7 @@ __hg_branch_color()
     command -v hg >/dev/null 2>&1 || return 1;
     branch=$(__hg_branch)
     if [[ ! -z "$branch" ]] ; then
-        if [[ $(hg status --quiet -n | wc -l | sed -e "s/ //g") = 0 ]] ; then
+        if [[ $(( $(hg status --quiet -n | wc -l) )) = 0 ]] ; then
             ret="${GREEN}${branch}${NO_COL}"
         else
             ret="${RED}${branch}${NO_COL}" # changes to commit
@@ -601,8 +601,7 @@ __svn_branch_color()
     command -v svn >/dev/null 2>&1 || return 1;
     branch=$(__svn_branch)
     if [[ ! -z "$branch" ]] ; then
-        commits=$(svn status | grep -v "?" | wc -l)
-        commits=$((commits))
+        commits=$(( $(svn status | grep -v "?" | wc -l) ))
         if [[ $commits = 0 ]] ; then
             ret="${GREEN}${branch}${NO_COL}"
         else