diff --git a/mods/MISC/mcl_commands/init.lua b/mods/MISC/mcl_commands/init.lua
index 381413c469..df075a5fb8 100644
--- a/mods/MISC/mcl_commands/init.lua
+++ b/mods/MISC/mcl_commands/init.lua
@@ -52,18 +52,7 @@ end
 local STATE_READY = 1
 local STATE_PARAM = 2
 local STATE_PARAM_TYPE = 3
-local bad_chars = {}
-bad_chars["("] = true
-bad_chars[")"] = true
-bad_chars["."] = true
-bad_chars["%"] = true
-bad_chars["+"] = true
-bad_chars["-"] = true
-bad_chars["*"] = true
-bad_chars["?"] = true
-bad_chars["["] = true
-bad_chars["^"] = true
-bad_chars["$"] = true
+local bad_chars = {"(", ")", ".", "%", "+", "-", "*", "?", "[", "^", "$"}
 local function escape(char)
 	if bad_chars[char] then
 		return "%" .. char