diff --git a/.functions b/.functions
index 6b0857f7918..90373ae9b4f 100644
--- a/.functions
+++ b/.functions
@@ -103,19 +103,28 @@ function digga() {
 # Escape UTF-8 characters into their 3-byte format
 function escape() {
 	printf "\\\x%s" $(printf "$@" | xxd -p -c1 -u)
-	echo # newline
+	# print a newline unless we’re piping the output to another program
+	if [ -t 1 ]; then
+		echo # newline
+	fi
 }
 
 # Decode \x{ABCD}-style Unicode escape sequences
 function unidecode() {
 	perl -e "binmode(STDOUT, ':utf8'); print \"$@\""
-	echo # newline
+	# print a newline unless we’re piping the output to another program
+	if [ -t 1 ]; then
+		echo # newline
+	fi
 }
 
 # Get a character’s Unicode code point
 function codepoint() {
 	perl -e "use utf8; print sprintf('U+%04X', ord(\"$@\"))"
-	echo # newline
+	# print a newline unless we’re piping the output to another program
+	if [ -t 1 ]; then
+		echo # newline
+	fi
 }
 
 # Show all the names (CNs and SANs) listed in the SSL certificate