diff --git a/scripts/file-to-apex b/scripts/file-to-apex
index 7f3e25c..4b0bb09 100755
--- a/scripts/file-to-apex
+++ b/scripts/file-to-apex
@@ -1,10 +1,10 @@
 # designed to be called from frontrunner script
-script_folder=$(dirname $0)
-$script_folder/check_conf_file.sh || exit 1
+script_folder=$(dirname "${0}")
+"${script_folder}"/check_conf_file.sh || exit 1
 source config/asc.conf || exit 1
-if [ -z $app_alias ]; then
+if [ -z "${app_alias}" ]; then
    #call install_apex with an empty app_alias string (will ask for user input otherwise)
-   sqlplus $username/$password@$database_connection @$script_folder/install_apex.sql $apexappid $workspace_name $parsing_schema '' || exit 1
+   sqlplus "${username}"/"${password}"@"${database_connection}" @"${script_folder}"/install_apex.sql "${apexappid}" "${workspace_name}" "${parsing_schema}" '' || exit 1
 else
-   sqlplus $username/$password@$database_connection @$script_folder/install_apex.sql $apexappid $workspace_name $parsing_schema $app_alias || exit 1
+   sqlplus "${username}"/"${password}"@"${database_connection}" @"${script_folder}"/install_apex.sql "${apexappid}" "${workspace_name}" "${parsing_schema}" "${app_alias}" || exit 1
 fi