diff --git a/man2/readlink.2 b/man2/readlink.2
index b1a73de4e..41af6960d 100644
--- a/man2/readlink.2
+++ b/man2/readlink.2
@@ -202,9 +202,9 @@ main(int argc, char *argv[])
         exit(EXIT_FAILURE);
     }
 
-    linkname[sb.st_size] = '\\0';
+    linkname[sb.st_size] = \(aq\\0\(aq;
 
-    printf("'%s' points to '%s'\\n", argv[1], linkname);
+    printf("\(aq%s\(aq points to \(aq%s\(aq\\n", argv[1], linkname);
 
     exit(EXIT_SUCCESS);
 }
diff --git a/man3/getsubopt.3 b/man3/getsubopt.3
index 7e8a3f455..7e7a60504 100644
--- a/man3/getsubopt.3
+++ b/man3/getsubopt.3
@@ -103,7 +103,7 @@ When
 returns,
 .I optionp
 points to the next suboption,
-or to the null byte ('\\0') at the end of the
+or to the null byte (\(aq\\0\(aq) at the end of the
 string if the last suboption was just processed.
 .SH RETURN VALUE
 If the first suboption in
diff --git a/man5/termcap.5 b/man5/termcap.5
index 6983046e4..f8f33f50b 100644
--- a/man5/termcap.5
+++ b/man5/termcap.5
@@ -416,7 +416,7 @@ Do ASCII output of this parameter with a field with of 3
 .IP %
 Print a \(aq%\(aq
 .LP
-If you use binary output, then you should avoid the null character ('\\0')
+If you use binary output, then you should avoid the null character (\(aq\\0\(aq)
 because it terminates the string.
 You should reset tabulator expansion
 if a tabulator can be the binary output of a parameter.
diff --git a/man5/tzfile.5 b/man5/tzfile.5
index 3b938dd7f..7dd2f8894 100644
--- a/man5/tzfile.5
+++ b/man5/tzfile.5
@@ -12,7 +12,7 @@ The timezone information files used by
 begin with the magic characters "TZif" to identify then as
 timezone information files,
 followed by a character identifying the version of the file's format
-(as of 2005, either an ASCII NUL ('\\0') or a '2')
+(as of 2005, either an ASCII NUL (\(aq\\0\(aq) or a \(aq2\(aq)
 followed by fifteen bytes containing zeros reserved for future use,
 followed by six four-byte values of type
 .IR long ,
diff --git a/man7/aio.7 b/man7/aio.7
index d5e684666..f45d8225a 100644
--- a/man7/aio.7
+++ b/man7/aio.7
@@ -95,7 +95,7 @@ struct aiocb {
     /* Various implementation-internal fields not shown */
 };
 
-/* Operation codes for 'aio_lio_opcode': */
+/* Operation codes for \(aqaio_lio_opcode\(aq: */
 
 enum { LIO_READ, LIO_WRITE, LIO_NOP };
 
diff --git a/man7/unix.7 b/man7/unix.7
index 165cec0c3..4b3e1ee2e 100644
--- a/man7/unix.7
+++ b/man7/unix.7
@@ -108,7 +108,7 @@ should not be inspected.
 .IR abstract :
 an abstract socket address is distinguished by the fact that
 .IR sun_path[0]
-is a null byte ('\\0').
+is a null byte (\(aq\\0\(aq).
 The socket's address in this namespace is given by the additional
 bytes in
 .IR sun_path