diff --git a/bin/emqx b/bin/emqx
index f409f19ee..8caede90b 100755
--- a/bin/emqx
+++ b/bin/emqx
@@ -361,7 +361,10 @@ generate_config() {
     ## transform a single line args list like '-config ... -args_file ... -vm_args ...' to lines and get path for each file respectively
     ## NOTE: the -args_file and -vm_args are the same file passed twice because args_file is used by beam, but not possible to get at runtime
     ## by calling init:get_arguments/0
-    lines="$(echo "$CUTTLEFISH_OUTPUT" | tail -1 | sed 's/-config/\nconfig=/g' | sed 's/-args_file/\nargs_file=/g' | sed 's/-vm_args/\nvm_args=/g')"
+    lines="$(echo "$CUTTLEFISH_OUTPUT" | tail -1 \
+                | sed -e $'s/-config/\\\nconfig=/g' \
+                | sed -e $'s/-args_file/\\\nargs_file=/g' \
+                | sed -e $'s/-vm_args/\\\nvm_args=/g')"
     CONFIG_FILE="$(trim "$(echo -e "$lines" | grep 'config=' | sed 's/config=//g')")"
     CUTTLE_GEN_ARG_FILE="$(trim "$(echo -e "$lines" | grep 'vm_args=' | sed 's/vm_args=//g')")"