diff --git a/lib/difftastic.rb b/lib/difftastic.rb
index 593f172..acda050 100644
--- a/lib/difftastic.rb
+++ b/lib/difftastic.rb
@@ -25,6 +25,10 @@ def self.execute(command)
 		`#{executable} #{command}`
 	end
 
+	def self.capture(*arguments)
+		IO.popen([executable, *arguments], &:read)
+	end
+
 	def self.platform
 		[:cpu, :os].map { |m| Gem::Platform.local.__send__(m) }.join("-")
 	end
diff --git a/lib/difftastic/differ.rb b/lib/difftastic/differ.rb
index e1f327d..e7f2c40 100644
--- a/lib/difftastic/differ.rb
+++ b/lib/difftastic/differ.rb
@@ -298,9 +298,9 @@ def diff_files(old_file, new_file)
 			("--tab-width=#{@tab_width}" if @tab_width),
 			("--display=#{@display}" if @display),
 			("--width=#{@width}" if @width),
-		].compact!
+		].compact
 
-		result = Difftastic.execute(options.join(" ")).lstrip.sub(/\n{2}\z/, "")
+		result = Difftastic.capture(*options).lstrip.sub(/\n{2}\z/, "")
 
 		unless @show_paths
 			new_line_index = (result.index("\n") || 0) + 1
diff --git a/test/shell_test.rb b/test/shell_test.rb
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..01b4b34
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/shell_test.rb
@@ -0,0 +1,54 @@
+# frozen_string_literal: true
+
+require_relative "test_helper"
+require "tmpdir"
+
+class ShellTest < Minitest::Spec
+	it "diff_files with spaces, quotes and command substitution in paths" do
+		Dir.mktmpdir do |dir|
+			Dir.chdir(dir) do
+				File.write("a $(touch injected).txt", "A")
+				File.write("b 'quoted\".txt", "B")
+
+				output = Difftastic::Differ.new(color: :never, tab_width: 2).diff_files("a $(touch injected).txt", "b 'quoted\".txt")
+
+				assert_equal "1 A                         1 B", output
+			end
+		end
+	end
+
+	it "diff_files does not run command substitution in paths" do
+		Dir.mktmpdir do |dir|
+			Dir.chdir(dir) do
+				File.write("a $(touch injected).txt", "A")
+				File.write("b.txt", "B")
+
+				Difftastic::Differ.new(color: :never, tab_width: 2).diff_files("a $(touch injected).txt", "b.txt")
+
+				refute File.exist?("injected")
+			end
+		end
+	end
+
+	it "diff_strings with a temporary directory containing a space" do
+		original_tmpdir = ENV["TMPDIR"]
+
+		Dir.mktmpdir do |parent|
+			dir = File.join(parent, "with space")
+			Dir.mkdir(dir, 0o700)
+			ENV["TMPDIR"] = dir
+
+			output = Difftastic::Differ.new(color: :never, tab_width: 2).diff_strings("A", "B")
+
+			assert_equal "1 A                         1 B", output
+		ensure
+			ENV["TMPDIR"] = original_tmpdir
+		end
+	end
+
+	it "diff_strings with every option set" do
+		differ = Difftastic::Differ.new(color: :never, context: 3, background: :dark, syntax_highlight: :off, tab_width: 2, width: 80)
+
+		assert_equal "1 A                         1 B", differ.diff_strings("A", "B")
+	end
+end