diff --git a/contrib/bash_completion.in b/contrib/bash_completion.in
index bdc4754a..7f47f4b4 100644
--- a/contrib/bash_completion.in
+++ b/contrib/bash_completion.in
@@ -30,8 +30,7 @@ _arch_incomp() {
 _makepkg() {
   local cur opts prev
   COMPREPLY=()
-  cur=$(_get_cword)
-  prev=${COMP_WORDS[COMP_CWORD-1]}
+  _get_comp_words_by_ref cur prev
   if [[ $cur = -* && ! $prev =~ ^-(-(cleancache|config|help)$|\w*[Chp]) ]]; then
     opts=('allsource asroot clean cleancache config force geninteg help holdver
            ignorearch install log nobuild nocolor noconfirm nodeps noextract
@@ -55,8 +54,7 @@ _pacman_pkg() {
 _pacman() {
   local common core cur database prev query remove sync upgrade o
   COMPREPLY=()
-  cur=$(_get_cword)
-  prev=${COMP_WORDS[COMP_CWORD-1]}
+  _get_comp_words_by_ref cur prev
   database=('asdeps asexplicit')
   query=('changelog check deps explicit file foreign groups info list owns
           search unrequired upgrades' 'c e g i k l m o p s t u')