diff --git a/src/MacVim/MMAppController.m b/src/MacVim/MMAppController.m
index 46781a6413..20c8b88d8a 100644
--- a/src/MacVim/MMAppController.m
+++ b/src/MacVim/MMAppController.m
@@ -1734,8 +1734,12 @@ fsEventCallback(ConstFSEventStreamRef streamRef,
     // 3. Extract Spotlight search text (if any)
     NSAppleEventDescriptor *spotlightdesc = 
             [desc paramDescriptorForKeyword:keyAESearchText];
-    if (spotlightdesc)
-        [dict setObject:[spotlightdesc stringValue] forKey:@"searchText"];
+    if (spotlightdesc) {
+        NSString *s = [[spotlightdesc stringValue]
+                                            stringBySanitizingSpotlightSearch];
+        if (s && [s length] > 0)
+            [dict setObject:s forKey:@"searchText"];
+    }
 
     return dict;
 }
@@ -2257,14 +2261,14 @@ fsEventCallback(ConstFSEventStreamRef streamRef,
     NSMutableArray *a = [NSMutableArray array];
     NSMutableDictionary *d = [[args mutableCopy] autorelease];
 
-    // Search for text using "+/text".
+    // Search for text and highlight it (this Vim script avoids warnings in
+    // case there is no match for the search text).
     NSString *searchText = [args objectForKey:@"searchText"];
-    if (searchText) {
-        // TODO: If the search pattern is not found an error is shown when
-        // starting.  Figure out a way to get rid of this message (The help
-        // says to use ':silent exe "normal /pat\<CR>"' but this does not
-        // work.)
-        [a addObject:[NSString stringWithFormat:@"+/%@", searchText]];
+    if (searchText && [searchText length] > 0) {
+        [a addObject:@"-c"];
+        NSString *s = [NSString stringWithFormat:@"if search('\\V\\c%@','cW')"
+                "|let @/='\\V\\c%@'|set hls|endif", searchText, searchText];
+        [a addObject:s];
 
         [d removeObjectForKey:@"searchText"];
     }
diff --git a/src/MacVim/MMBackend.m b/src/MacVim/MMBackend.m
index 8da90b5239..d0467f51d4 100644
--- a/src/MacVim/MMBackend.m
+++ b/src/MacVim/MMBackend.m
@@ -2814,8 +2814,11 @@ static void netbeansReadCallback(CFSocketRef s,
 
     NSString *searchText = [args objectForKey:@"searchText"];
     if (searchText) {
-        [self addInput:[NSString stringWithFormat:@"<C-\\><C-N>gg/\\c%@/e<CR>",
-                searchText]];
+        // NOTE: This command may be overkill to simply search for some text,
+        // but it is consistent with what is used in MMAppController.
+        [self addInput:[NSString stringWithFormat:@"<C-\\><C-N>:if search("
+                        "'\\V\\c%@','cW')|let @/='\\V\\c%@'|set hls|endif<CR>",
+                        searchText, searchText]];
     }
 }
 
diff --git a/src/MacVim/MacVim.h b/src/MacVim/MacVim.h
index e457453b2e..37fc3fb7ef 100644
--- a/src/MacVim/MacVim.h
+++ b/src/MacVim/MacVim.h
@@ -263,6 +263,7 @@ extern NSString *VimFindPboardType;
 @interface NSString (MMExtras)
 - (NSString *)stringByEscapingSpecialFilenameCharacters;
 - (NSString *)stringByRemovingFindPatterns;
+- (NSString *)stringBySanitizingSpotlightSearch;
 @end
 
 
diff --git a/src/MacVim/MacVim.m b/src/MacVim/MacVim.m
index b810529778..7dc1cd7595 100644
--- a/src/MacVim/MacVim.m
+++ b/src/MacVim/MacVim.m
@@ -233,6 +233,39 @@ debugStringForMessageQueue(NSArray *queue)
     return [string autorelease];
 }
 
+- (NSString *)stringBySanitizingSpotlightSearch
+{
+    // Limit length of search text
+    NSUInteger len = [self length];
+    if (len > 1024) len = 1024;
+    else if (len == 0) return self;
+
+    NSMutableString *string = [[[self substringToIndex:len] mutableCopy]
+                                                                autorelease];
+
+    // Ignore strings with control characters
+    NSCharacterSet *controlChars = [NSCharacterSet controlCharacterSet];
+    NSRange r = [string rangeOfCharacterFromSet:controlChars];
+    if (r.location != NSNotFound)
+        return nil;
+
+    // Replace ' with '' since it is used as a string delimeter in the command
+    // that we pass on to Vim to perform the search.
+    [string replaceOccurrencesOfString:@"'"
+                            withString:@"''"
+                               options:NSLiteralSearch
+                                 range:NSMakeRange(0, [string length])];
+
+    // Replace \ with \\ to avoid Vim interpreting it as the beginning of a
+    // character class.
+    [string replaceOccurrencesOfString:@"\\"
+                            withString:@"\\\\"
+                               options:NSLiteralSearch
+                                 range:NSMakeRange(0, [string length])];
+
+    return string;
+}
+
 @end // NSString (MMExtras)