diff --git a/bin/pt-archiver b/bin/pt-archiver
index 0e67c076..c4031df7 100755
--- a/bin/pt-archiver
+++ b/bin/pt-archiver
@@ -7156,10 +7156,16 @@ sub escape {
  
    return join($fields_separated_by, map {
       s/([\t\n\\])/\\$1/g if defined $_;  # Escape tabs etc
-      $_ = defined $_ ? $_ : '\N';             # NULL = \N
+      my $s = defined $_ ? $_ : '\N';             # NULL = \N
       # var & ~var will return 0 only for numbers
-      $_ =~ s/([^\\])"/$1\\"/g if ($_ !~ /^[0-9,.E]+$/  && $optionally_enclosed_by eq '"');
-      $_ = $optionally_enclosed_by && $_ & ~$_ ? $optionally_enclosed_by."$_".$optionally_enclosed_by : $_;
+      if ($s !~ /^[0-9,.E]+$/  && $optionally_enclosed_by eq '"') {
+          $s =~ s/([^\\])"/$1\\"/g;
+          $s = $optionally_enclosed_by."$s".$optionally_enclosed_by;
+      }
+      # $_ =~ s/([^\\])"/$1\\"/g if ($_ !~ /^[0-9,.E]+$/  && $optionally_enclosed_by eq '"');
+      # $_ = $optionally_enclosed_by && ($_ & ~$_) ? $optionally_enclosed_by."$_".$optionally_enclosed_by : $_;
+      chomp $s;
+      $s;
    } @$row);
 
 }
diff --git a/t/pt-archiver/file.t b/t/pt-archiver/file.t
index 310ed476..7a427db0 100644
--- a/t/pt-archiver/file.t
+++ b/t/pt-archiver/file.t
@@ -46,7 +46,6 @@ is($output, <<EOF
 2\t\\N\t3\t4
 3\t2\t3\t\\\t
 4\t2\t3\t\\
-
 EOF
 , 'File has the right stuff');
 `rm -f archive.test.table_1`;
@@ -124,8 +123,8 @@ $output = output(
 );
 $output = `cat archive.test.table_2`;
 is($output, <<EOF
-1, 2, 3, "4"
-2, "\\N", 3, "4"
+1, 2, 3, 4
+2, "\\N", 3, 4
 3, 2, 3, "\\\t"
 4, 2, 3, "\\\n"
 5, 2, 3, "Zapp \\"Brannigan"