diff --git a/rslib/src/search/writer.rs b/rslib/src/search/writer.rs
index 05e61f048..20d46ce50 100644
--- a/rslib/src/search/writer.rs
+++ b/rslib/src/search/writer.rs
@@ -109,13 +109,17 @@ fn write_search_node(node: &SearchNode) -> String {
 
 /// Escape double quotes and wrap in double quotes if necessary.
 fn maybe_quote(txt: &str) -> String {
-    if txt.chars().any(|c| " \u{3000}()".contains(c)) {
+    if needs_quotation(txt) {
         format!("\"{}\"", txt.replace("\"", "\\\""))
     } else {
         txt.replace("\"", "\\\"")
     }
 }
 
+fn needs_quotation(txt: &str) -> bool {
+    txt.len() > 1 && txt.starts_with('-') || txt.chars().any(|c| " \u{3000}()".contains(c))
+}
+
 fn write_single_field(field: &str, text: &str, is_re: bool) -> String {
     let re = if is_re { "re:" } else { "" };
     let text = if !is_re && text.starts_with("re:") {
@@ -199,14 +203,24 @@ mod test {
 
     #[test]
     fn normalizing() {
+        // remove redundant quotes
         assert_eq!(
             r#"foo "b a r""#,
             normalize_search(r#""foo" "b a r""#).unwrap()
         );
-        assert_eq!(r#""(" -"#, normalize_search(r"\( \-").unwrap());
-        assert_eq!("deck::", normalize_search(r"deck:\:").unwrap());
-        assert_eq!(r"\* OR \:", normalize_search(r"\* or \:").unwrap());
         assert_eq!("field:foo", normalize_search(r#"field:"foo""#).unwrap());
+        // escape by quoting where possible
+        assert_eq!(r#""(" ")""#, normalize_search(r"\( \)").unwrap());
+        assert_eq!(r#""-foo""#, normalize_search(r"\-foo").unwrap());
+        assert_eq!(r"\*\:\_", normalize_search(r"\*\:\_").unwrap());
+        // remove redundant escapes
+        assert_eq!("deck::", normalize_search(r"deck:\:").unwrap());
+        assert_eq!("-", normalize_search(r"\-").unwrap());
+        assert_eq!("--", normalize_search(r"-\-").unwrap());
+        // ANDs are implicit, ORs in upper case
+        assert_eq!("1 2 OR 3", normalize_search(r"1 and 2 or 3").unwrap());
+        assert_eq!(r#""f o o" bar"#, normalize_search(r#""f o o"bar"#).unwrap());
+        // normalize numbers
         assert_eq!("prop:ease>1", normalize_search("prop:ease>1.0").unwrap());
     }