diff --git a/src/commands/CmdIDs.cpp b/src/commands/CmdIDs.cpp
index 5d0e0ffcc..efcbbd298 100644
--- a/src/commands/CmdIDs.cpp
+++ b/src/commands/CmdIDs.cpp
@@ -38,6 +38,8 @@
 
 extern Context context;
 
+std::string zshColonReplacement = ",";
+
 ////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
 CmdIDs::CmdIDs ()
 {
@@ -131,7 +133,7 @@ int CmdZshCompletionIds::execute (std::string& output)
         task->getStatus () != Task::completed)
       out << task->id
           << ":"
-          << task->get ("description")
+          << str_replace(task->get ("description"), ":", zshColonReplacement)
           << "\n";
 
   output = out.str ();
@@ -228,7 +230,7 @@ int CmdZshCompletionUuids::execute (std::string& output)
   for (task = filtered.begin (); task != filtered.end (); ++task)
     out << task->get ("uuid")
         << ":"
-        << task->get ("description")
+        << str_replace (task->get ("description"), ":", zshColonReplacement)
         << "\n";
 
   output = out.str ();
diff --git a/src/text.cpp b/src/text.cpp
index 99f5da43a..067404764 100644
--- a/src/text.cpp
+++ b/src/text.cpp
@@ -527,6 +527,16 @@ const std::string str_replace (
   return str;
 }
 
+////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
+const std::string str_replace (
+  const std::string& str,
+  const std::string& search,
+  const std::string& replacement)
+{
+  std::string modified = str;
+  return str_replace (modified, search, replacement);
+}
+
 ////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
 const char* optionalBlankLine ()
 {
diff --git a/src/text.h b/src/text.h
index cf90dbfc0..2bd2f4c21 100644
--- a/src/text.h
+++ b/src/text.h
@@ -53,6 +53,7 @@ std::string lowerCase (const std::string&);
 std::string upperCase (const std::string&);
 std::string ucFirst (const std::string&);
 const std::string str_replace (std::string&, const std::string&, const std::string&);
+const std::string str_replace (const std::string&, const std::string&, const std::string&);
 const char* optionalBlankLine ();
 void guess (const std::string&, std::vector<std::string>&, std::string&);
 bool nontrivial (const std::string&);