diff --git a/scripts/git-hooks/pre-commit.hook b/scripts/git-hooks/pre-commit.hook
index 3b9b5c3708..aa4fb6758d 100755
--- a/scripts/git-hooks/pre-commit.hook
+++ b/scripts/git-hooks/pre-commit.hook
@@ -7,11 +7,11 @@
 # On some *bsd systems the binary seems to be called gnunindent,
 # so check for that first.
 
-version=`gnuindent --version 2>/dev/null`
+version=$(gnuindent --version 2>/dev/null)
 if test "x$version" = "x"; then
-  version=`gindent --version 2>/dev/null`
+  version=$(gindent --version 2>/dev/null)
   if test "x$version" = "x"; then
-    version=`indent --version 2>/dev/null`
+    version=$(indent --version 2>/dev/null)
     if test "x$version" = "x"; then
       echo "GStreamer git pre-commit hook:"
       echo "Did not find GNU indent, please install it before continuing."
@@ -26,7 +26,7 @@ else
   INDENT=gnuindent
 fi
 
-case `$INDENT --version` in
+case $($INDENT --version) in
   GNU*)
       ;;
   default)
@@ -52,11 +52,11 @@ INDENT_PARAMETERS="--braces-on-if-line \
 	--leave-preprocessor-space"
 
 echo "--Checking style--"
-for file in `git diff-index --cached --name-only HEAD --diff-filter=ACMR| grep "\.c$"` ; do
+for file in $(git diff-index --cached --name-only HEAD --diff-filter=ACMR| grep "\.c$") ; do
     # nf is the temporary checkout. This makes sure we check against the
     # revision in the index (and not the checked out version).
-    nf=`git checkout-index --temp ${file} | cut -f 1`
-    newfile=`mktemp /tmp/${nf}.XXXXXX` || exit 1
+    nf=$(git checkout-index --temp ${file} | cut -f 1)
+    newfile=$(mktemp /tmp/${nf}.XXXXXX) || exit 1
     $INDENT ${INDENT_PARAMETERS} \
 	$nf -o $newfile 2>> /dev/null
     # FIXME: Call indent twice as it tends to do line-breaks
@@ -91,9 +91,9 @@ echo "==========================================================================
   exit 1
 fi
 
-csharp_files=` git diff-index --cached --name-only HEAD --diff-filter=ACMR| grep "^subprojects/gstreamer-sharp/.*cs$" `
+csharp_files=$( git diff-index --cached --name-only HEAD --diff-filter=ACMR| grep "^subprojects/gstreamer-sharp/.*cs$" )
 if test "x$csharp_files" != "x"; then
-  version=`dotnet-format --version 2>/dev/null`
+  version=$(dotnet-format --version 2>/dev/null)
   if test "x$version" = "x"; then
       echo "GStreamer git pre-commit hook:"
       echo "Did not find dotnet-format required to format C# files, please install it before continuing."