diff --git a/docs/percona-toolkit.pod b/docs/percona-toolkit.pod
index 73d0b6bf..5cba1d81 100644
--- a/docs/percona-toolkit.pod
+++ b/docs/percona-toolkit.pod
@@ -313,6 +313,20 @@ provide defaults for all DSNs that do not specify the option's corresponding
 key part.  For example, if DSN C<h=host1> and option C<--port=12345> are
 specified, then the tool automatically adds C<P=12345> to DSN.
 
+=head2 ESCAPING VALUES
+
+DSNs are usually specified on the command line, so shell quoting and escaping
+must be taken into account.  Special characters, like asterisk (C<*>), need
+to be quoted and/or escaped properly to be passed as literal characters in
+DSN values.
+
+Since DSN parts are separated by commas, literal commas in DSN values must
+be escaped with a single backslash (C<\>).  And since a backslash is
+the escape character for most shells, two backslashes are required to pass
+a literal backslash.  For example, if the username is literally C<my,name>,
+it must be specified as C<my\\,name> on most shells.  This applies to DSNs
+and DSN-related options like C<--user>.
+
 =head2 KEY PARTS
 
 Many of the tools add more parts to DSNs for special purposes, and sometimes
diff --git a/lib/DSNParser.pm b/lib/DSNParser.pm
index fd7b4f1b..938ec37b 100644
--- a/lib/DSNParser.pm
+++ b/lib/DSNParser.pm
@@ -131,9 +131,9 @@ sub parse {
 
    # Parse given props
    foreach my $dsn_part ( split($dsn_sep, $dsn) ) {
+      $dsn_part =~ s/\\,/,/g;
       if ( my ($prop_key, $prop_val) = $dsn_part =~  m/^(.)=(.*)$/ ) {
          # Handle the typical DSN parts like h=host, P=3306, etc.
-         $prop_val =~ s/\\,/,/g;
          $given_props{$prop_key} = $prop_val;
       }
       else {