diff --git a/arrayfunc.c b/arrayfunc.c

--- a/arrayfunc.c

+++ b/arrayfunc.c

@@ -597,6 +597,27 @@ assign_assoc_from_kvlist (var, nlist, h, flags)

 	free (aval);

     }

 }

+

+/* Return non-zero if L appears to be a key-value pair associative array

+   compound assignment. */ 

+int

+kvpair_assignment_p (l)

+     WORD_LIST *l;

+{

+  return (l && (l->word->flags & W_ASSIGNMENT) == 0 && l->word->word[0] != '[');	/*]*/

+}

+

+char *

+expand_and_quote_kvpair_word (w)

+     char *w;

+{

+  char *t, *r;

+

+  t = w ? expand_assignment_string_to_string (w, 0) : 0;

+  r = sh_single_quote (t ? t : "");

+  free (t);

+  return r;

+}

 #endif

 /* Callers ensure that VAR is not NULL. Associative array assignments have not

@@ -640,7 +661,7 @@ assign_compound_array_list (var, nlist, flags)

   last_ind = (a && (flags & ASS_APPEND)) ? array_max_index (a) + 1 : 0;

 #if ASSOC_KVPAIR_ASSIGNMENT

-  if (assoc_p (var) && nlist && (nlist->word->flags & W_ASSIGNMENT) == 0 && nlist->word->word[0] != '[')	/*]*/

+  if (assoc_p (var) && kvpair_assignment_p (nlist))

     {

       iflags = flags & ~ASS_APPEND;

       assign_assoc_from_kvlist (var, nlist, nhash, iflags);

diff --git a/arrayfunc.h b/arrayfunc.h

--- a/arrayfunc.h

+++ b/arrayfunc.h

@@ -67,6 +67,9 @@ extern SHELL_VAR *assign_array_var_from_string PARAMS((SHELL_VAR *, char *, int)

 extern char *expand_and_quote_assoc_word PARAMS((char *, int));

 extern void quote_compound_array_list PARAMS((WORD_LIST *, int));

+extern int kvpair_assignment_p PARAMS((WORD_LIST *));

+extern char *expand_and_quote_kvpair_word PARAMS((char *));

+

 extern int unbind_array_element PARAMS((SHELL_VAR *, char *, int));

 extern int skipsubscript PARAMS((const char *, int, int));

diff --git a/patchlevel.h b/patchlevel.h

--- a/patchlevel.h

+++ b/patchlevel.h

@@ -25,6 +25,6 @@

    regexp `^#define[ 	]*PATCHLEVEL', since that's what support/mkversion.sh

    looks for to find the patch level (for the sccs version string). */

-#define PATCHLEVEL 3

+#define PATCHLEVEL 4

 #endif /* _PATCHLEVEL_H_ */

diff --git a/subst.c b/subst.c

--- a/subst.c

+++ b/subst.c

@@ -11604,6 +11604,7 @@ expand_oneword (value, flags)

 {

   WORD_LIST *l, *nl;

   char *t;

+  int kvpair;

   if (flags == 0)

     {

@@ -11618,11 +11619,21 @@ expand_oneword (value, flags)

     {

       /* Associative array */

       l = parse_string_to_word_list (value, 1, "array assign");

+#if ASSOC_KVPAIR_ASSIGNMENT

+      kvpair = kvpair_assignment_p (l);

+#endif

+

       /* For associative arrays, with their arbitrary subscripts, we have to

 	 expand and quote in one step so we don't have to search for the

 	 closing right bracket more than once. */

       for (nl = l; nl; nl = nl->next)

 	{

+#if ASSOC_KVPAIR_ASSIGNMENT

+	  if (kvpair)

+	    /* keys and values undergo the same set of expansions */

+	    t = expand_and_quote_kvpair_word (nl->word->word);

+	  else

+#endif

 	  if ((nl->word->flags & W_ASSIGNMENT) == 0)

 	    t = sh_single_quote (nl->word->word ? nl->word->word : "");

 	  else