diff --git a/rse/plugins/org.eclipse.rse.services.ssh/src/org/eclipse/rse/services/ssh/files/SftpFileService.java b/rse/plugins/org.eclipse.rse.services.ssh/src/org/eclipse/rse/services/ssh/files/SftpFileService.java
index b7e25f59bbd..73dadf46665 100644
--- a/rse/plugins/org.eclipse.rse.services.ssh/src/org/eclipse/rse/services/ssh/files/SftpFileService.java
+++ b/rse/plugins/org.eclipse.rse.services.ssh/src/org/eclipse/rse/services/ssh/files/SftpFileService.java
@@ -19,14 +19,14 @@ import java.io.InputStream;
 import java.io.OutputStream;
 import java.util.ArrayList;
 import java.util.List;
+import java.util.regex.Pattern;
 
 import org.eclipse.core.runtime.IProgressMonitor;
-
 import org.eclipse.rse.services.clientserver.NamePatternMatcher;
 import org.eclipse.rse.services.clientserver.messages.SystemMessageException;
 import org.eclipse.rse.services.files.AbstractFileService;
 import org.eclipse.rse.services.files.IFileService;
-import org.eclipse.rse.services.files.IHostFile; 
+import org.eclipse.rse.services.files.IHostFile;
 import org.eclipse.rse.services.ssh.ISshService;
 import org.eclipse.rse.services.ssh.ISshSessionProvider;
 
@@ -406,14 +406,63 @@ public class SftpFileService extends AbstractFileService implements IFileService
 		return result;
 	}
 	
+	private static Pattern fValidShellPattern = Pattern.compile("[a-zA-Z0-9._/]*"); //$NON-NLS-1$
+	/**
+	 * Quotes a string such that it can be used in a remote UNIX shell.
+	 * On Windows, special characters likes quotes and dollar sign. and
+	 * - most importantly - the backslash will not be quoted correctly.
+	 * 
+	 * Newline is only quoted correctly in tcsh. But since this is mainly
+	 * intended for file names, it should work OK in almost every case.
+	 * 
+	 * @param s String to be quoted
+	 * @return quoted string, or original if no quoting was necessary.
+	 */
+	public static String enQuote(String s) {
+		if(fValidShellPattern.matcher(s).matches()) {
+			return s;
+		} else {
+			StringBuffer buf = new StringBuffer(s.length()+16);
+			buf.append('"');
+			for(int i=0; i<s.length(); i++) {
+				char c=s.charAt(i);
+				switch(c) {
+				case '$':
+					//Need to treat specially to work in both bash and tcsh:
+					//close the quote, insert quoted $, reopen the quote
+					buf.append('"');
+					buf.append('\\');
+					buf.append('$');
+					buf.append('"');
+					break;
+				case '"':
+				case '\\':
+				case '\'':
+				case '`':
+				case '\n':
+					//just quote it. The newline will work in tcsh only -
+					//bash replaces it by the empty string. But newlines
+					//in filenames are an academic issue, hopefully.
+					buf.append('\\');
+					buf.append(c);
+					break;
+				default:
+					buf.append(c);
+				}
+			}
+			buf.append('"');
+			return buf.toString();
+		}
+	}
+	
 	public boolean move(IProgressMonitor monitor, String srcParent, String srcName, String tgtParent, String tgtName) throws SystemMessageException
 	{
 		// move is not supported by sftp directly. Use the ssh shell instead.
 		// TODO check if newer versions of sftp support move directly
 		// TODO Interpret some error messages like "command not found" (use ren instead of mv on windows)
-		String fullPathOld = srcParent + '/' + srcName;
-		String fullPathNew = tgtParent + '/' + tgtName;
-		//TODO quote pathes if necessary
+		// TODO mimic by copy if the remote does not support copying between file systems?
+		String fullPathOld = enQuote(srcParent + '/' + srcName);
+		String fullPathNew = enQuote(tgtParent + '/' + tgtName);
 		int rv = runCommand(monitor, "mv "+fullPathOld+' '+fullPathNew); //$NON-NLS-1$
 		return (rv==0);
 	}
@@ -422,9 +471,8 @@ public class SftpFileService extends AbstractFileService implements IFileService
 		// move is not supported by sftp directly. Use the ssh shell instead.
 		// TODO check if newer versions of sftp support move directly
 		// TODO Interpret some error messages like "command not found" (use (x)copy instead of cp on windows)
-		String fullPathOld = srcParent + '/' + srcName; //$NON-NLS-1$
-		String fullPathNew = tgtParent + '/' + tgtName; //$NON-NLS-1$
-		//TODO quote pathes if necessary
+		String fullPathOld = enQuote(srcParent + '/' + srcName); //$NON-NLS-1$
+		String fullPathNew = enQuote(tgtParent + '/' + tgtName); //$NON-NLS-1$
 		int rv = runCommand(monitor, "cp "+fullPathOld+' '+fullPathNew); //$NON-NLS-1$
 		return (rv==0);
 	}