diff --git a/pkg/shparse/expand.go b/pkg/shparse/expand.go
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..2f8d8910
--- /dev/null
+++ b/pkg/shparse/expand.go
@@ -0,0 +1,205 @@
+package shparse
+
+import (
+	"bytes"
+	"fmt"
+
+	"mvdan.cc/sh/v3/expand"
+)
+
+const MaxExpandLen = 64 * 1024
+
+type ExpandInfo struct {
+	HasTilde   bool // only ~ as the first character when SimpleExpandContext.HomeDir is set
+	HasVar     bool // $x, $$, ${...}
+	HasGlob    bool // *, ?, [, {
+	HasExtGlob bool // ?(...) ... ?*+@!
+	HasHistory bool // ! (anywhere)
+	HasSpecial bool // subshell, arith
+}
+
+type ExpandContext struct {
+	HomeDir string
+}
+
+func expandSQ(buf *bytes.Buffer, rawLit []rune) {
+	// no info specials
+	buf.WriteString(string(rawLit))
+}
+
+// TODO implement our own ANSI single quote formatter
+func expandANSISQ(buf *bytes.Buffer, rawLit []rune) {
+	// no info specials
+	str, _, _ := expand.Format(nil, string(rawLit), nil)
+	buf.WriteString(str)
+}
+
+func expandLiteral(buf *bytes.Buffer, info *ExpandInfo, rawLit []rune) {
+	var lastBackSlash bool
+	var lastExtGlob bool
+	var lastDollar bool
+	for _, ch := range rawLit {
+		if ch == 0 {
+			break
+		}
+		if lastBackSlash {
+			lastBackSlash = false
+			if ch == '\n' {
+				// special case, backslash *and* newline are ignored
+				continue
+			}
+			buf.WriteRune(ch)
+			continue
+		}
+		if ch == '\\' {
+			lastBackSlash = true
+			lastExtGlob = false
+			lastDollar = false
+			continue
+		}
+		if ch == '*' || ch == '?' || ch == '[' || ch == '{' {
+			info.HasGlob = true
+		}
+		if ch == '`' {
+			info.HasSpecial = true
+		}
+		if ch == '!' {
+			info.HasHistory = true
+		}
+		if lastExtGlob && ch == '(' {
+			info.HasExtGlob = true
+		}
+		if lastDollar && (ch != ' ' && ch != '"' && ch != '\'' && ch != '(' || ch != '[') {
+			info.HasVar = true
+		}
+		if lastDollar && (ch == '(' || ch == '[') {
+			info.HasSpecial = true
+		}
+		lastExtGlob = (ch == '?' || ch == '*' || ch == '+' || ch == '@' || ch == '!')
+		lastDollar = (ch == '$')
+		buf.WriteRune(ch)
+	}
+	if lastBackSlash {
+		buf.WriteByte('\\')
+	}
+}
+
+// will also work for partial double quoted strings
+func expandDQLiteral(buf *bytes.Buffer, info *ExpandInfo, rawVal []rune) {
+	var lastBackSlash bool
+	var lastDollar bool
+	for _, ch := range rawVal {
+		if ch == 0 {
+			break
+		}
+		if lastBackSlash {
+			lastBackSlash = false
+			if ch == '"' || ch == '\\' || ch == '$' || ch == '`' {
+				buf.WriteRune(ch)
+				continue
+			}
+			buf.WriteRune('\\')
+			buf.WriteRune(ch)
+			continue
+		}
+		if ch == '\\' {
+			lastBackSlash = true
+			lastDollar = false
+			continue
+		}
+
+		// similar to expandLiteral, but no globbing
+		if ch == '`' {
+			info.HasSpecial = true
+		}
+		if ch == '!' {
+			info.HasHistory = true
+		}
+		if lastDollar && (ch != ' ' && ch != '"' && ch != '\'' && ch != '(' || ch != '[') {
+			info.HasVar = true
+		}
+		if lastDollar && (ch == '(' || ch == '[') {
+			info.HasSpecial = true
+		}
+		lastDollar = (ch == '$')
+		buf.WriteRune(ch)
+	}
+	// in a valid parsed DQ string, you cannot have a trailing backslash (because \" would not end the string)
+	// still putting the case here though in case we ever deal with incomplete strings (e.g. completion)
+	if lastBackSlash {
+		buf.WriteByte('\\')
+	}
+}
+
+func simpleExpandSubs(buf *bytes.Buffer, info *ExpandInfo, ectx ExpandContext, word *WordType, pos int) {
+	fmt.Printf("expand subs: %v\n", word)
+	parts := word.Subs
+	startPos := word.contentStartPos()
+	for _, part := range parts {
+		remainingLen := pos - startPos
+		if remainingLen <= 0 {
+			break
+		}
+		simpleExpandWord(buf, info, ectx, part, remainingLen)
+		startPos += len(part.Raw)
+	}
+}
+
+func simpleExpandWord(buf *bytes.Buffer, info *ExpandInfo, ectx ExpandContext, word *WordType, pos int) {
+	if pos >= word.contentEndPos() {
+		pos = len(word.Raw)
+	}
+	if pos <= word.contentStartPos() {
+		return
+	}
+
+	switch word.Type {
+	case WordTypeLit:
+		if word.QC.cur() == WordTypeDQ {
+			expandDQLiteral(buf, info, word.Raw[:pos])
+			return
+		}
+		expandLiteral(buf, info, word.Raw[:pos])
+
+	case WordTypeSQ:
+		expandSQ(buf, word.Raw[word.contentStartPos():pos])
+		return
+
+	case WordTypeDSQ:
+		expandANSISQ(buf, word.Raw[word.contentStartPos():pos])
+		return
+
+	case WordTypeDQ, WordTypeDDQ:
+		simpleExpandSubs(buf, info, ectx, word, pos)
+		return
+
+	case WordTypeGroup:
+		simpleExpandSubs(buf, info, ectx, word, pos)
+		return
+
+	case WordTypeSimpleVar:
+		return
+
+	case WordTypeVarBrace:
+		return
+
+	default:
+		if pos > len(word.Raw) {
+			pos = len(word.Raw)
+		}
+		info.HasSpecial = true
+		buf.WriteString(string(word.Raw[:pos]))
+		return
+	}
+}
+
+func SimpleExpandPrefix(ectx ExpandContext, word *WordType, pos int) (string, ExpandInfo) {
+	var buf bytes.Buffer
+	var info ExpandInfo
+	simpleExpandWord(&buf, &info, ectx, word, pos)
+	return buf.String(), info
+}
+
+func SimpleExpand(ectx ExpandContext, word *WordType) (string, ExpandInfo) {
+	return SimpleExpandPrefix(ectx, word, len(word.Raw))
+}
diff --git a/pkg/shparse/shparse.go b/pkg/shparse/shparse.go
index 2a658bc6..e0f49eb5 100644
--- a/pkg/shparse/shparse.go
+++ b/pkg/shparse/shparse.go
@@ -188,9 +188,22 @@ func (w *WordType) isBlank() bool {
 	return w.Type == WordTypeLit && len(w.Raw) == 0
 }
 
+func (w *WordType) contentEndPos() int {
+	if !w.Complete {
+		return len(w.Raw)
+	}
+	wmeta := wordMetaMap[w.Type]
+	return len(w.Raw) - wmeta.SuffixLen
+}
+
+func (w *WordType) contentStartPos() int {
+	wmeta := wordMetaMap[w.Type]
+	return wmeta.PrefixLen
+}
+
 func (w *WordType) uncompletable() bool {
 	switch w.Type {
-	case WordTypeRaw, WordTypeOp, WordTypeKey, WordTypeDPP, WordTypePP, WordTypeDB:
+	case WordTypeRaw, WordTypeOp, WordTypeKey, WordTypeDPP, WordTypePP, WordTypeDB, WordTypeBQ, WordTypeDP:
 		return true
 
 	default:
diff --git a/pkg/shparse/shparse_test.go b/pkg/shparse/shparse_test.go
index a445dd45..030c2ae5 100644
--- a/pkg/shparse/shparse_test.go
+++ b/pkg/shparse/shparse_test.go
@@ -157,3 +157,34 @@ func TestCompPos(t *testing.T) {
 
 	testCompPos(t, `ls abc"$(ls $"echo $(ls ./[*]x) foo)" `, true, 1, true, false, false)
 }
+
+func testExpand(t *testing.T, str string, pos int, expStr string, expInfo *ExpandInfo) {
+	ectx := ExpandContext{HomeDir: "/Users/mike"}
+	words := Tokenize(str)
+	if len(words) == 0 {
+		t.Errorf("could not tokenize any words from %q", str)
+		return
+	}
+	word := words[0]
+	output, info := SimpleExpandPrefix(ectx, word, pos)
+	if output != expStr {
+		t.Errorf("error expanding %q, output:%q exp:%q", str, output, expStr)
+	} else {
+		fmt.Printf("expand: %q (%d) => %q\n", str, pos, output)
+	}
+	if expInfo != nil {
+		if info != *expInfo {
+			t.Errorf("error expanding %q, info:%v exp:%v", str, info, expInfo)
+		}
+	}
+}
+
+func TestExpand(t *testing.T) {
+	testExpand(t, "hello", 3, "hel", nil)
+	testExpand(t, "he\\$xabc", 6, "he$xa", nil)
+	testExpand(t, "he${x}abc", 6, "he$xa", nil)
+	testExpand(t, "'hello\"mike'", 8, "hello\"m", nil)
+	testExpand(t, `$'abc\x01def`, 10, "abc\x01d", nil)
+	testExpand(t, `$((2 + 2))`, 6, "$((2 +", &ExpandInfo{HasSpecial: true})
+	testExpand(t, `abc"def"`, 6, "abcde", nil)
+}