diff --git a/cowrie/core/honeypot.py b/cowrie/core/honeypot.py
index ed20c0b..3cd45d4 100644
--- a/cowrie/core/honeypot.py
+++ b/cowrie/core/honeypot.py
@@ -154,11 +154,31 @@ class HoneyPotShell(object):
                     continue
                 if tok == '||':
                     continue
+                if tok == '$?':
+                    tok = "0"
+                elif tok[0] == '$':
+                    env_rex = re.compile('^\$([_a-zA-Z0-9]+)$')
+                    env_search = env_rex.search(tok)
+                    if env_search != None:
+                        env_match = env_search.group(1)
+                        if env_match in list(self.environ.keys()):
+                            tok = self.environ[env_match]
+                        else:
+                            continue
+                    env_rex = re.compile('^\${([_a-zA-Z0-9]+)}$')
+                    env_search = env_rex.search(tok)
+                    if env_search != None:
+                        env_match = env_search.group(1)
+                        if env_match in list(self.environ.keys()):
+                            tok = self.environ[env_match]
+                        else:
+                            continue
                 tokens.append(tok)
             except Exception as e:
                 self.protocol.terminal.write(
                     'bash: syntax error: unexpected end of file\n')
                 # Could run runCommand here, but i'll just clear the list instead
+                log.msg( "exception: {}".format(e) )
                 self.cmdpending = []
                 self.showPrompt()
                 return
diff --git a/cowrie/core/shlex.py b/cowrie/core/shlex.py
index 27fb72f..4e4ace5 100644
--- a/cowrie/core/shlex.py
+++ b/cowrie/core/shlex.py
@@ -63,7 +63,7 @@ class shlex:
             # _pushback_chars is a push back queue used by lookahead logic
             self._pushback_chars = deque()
             # these chars added because allowed in file names, args, wildcards
-            self.wordchars += '~-./*?=$:'
+            self.wordchars += '{}~-./*?=$:'
             #remove any punctuation chars from wordchars
             self.wordchars = ''.join(c for c in self.wordchars if c not in
                                      self.punctuation_chars)