diff --git a/sway/commands.c b/sway/commands.c
index 13a2d0b68..8e92740d9 100644
--- a/sway/commands.c
+++ b/sway/commands.c
@@ -41,14 +41,12 @@ bool cmd_bindsym(struct sway_config *config, int argc, char **argv) {
 	binding->command = join_args(argv + 1, argc - 1);
 
 	//Set the first workspace name found to the init_workspace
-	list_t *cargs = split_string(binding->command, " ");
 	if (!config->init_workspace) {
-		if (strcmp("workspace", cargs->items[0]) == 0) {
-			argv[0] = do_var_replacement(config, argv[0]);
-			config->init_workspace = do_var_replacement(config, cargs->items[1]);
+		if (strcmp("workspace", argv[1]) == 0) {
+			config->init_workspace = malloc(strlen(argv[2]) + 1);
+			strcpy(config->init_workspace, argv[2]);
 		}
 	}
-	list_free(cargs);
 
 	list_t *split = split_string(argv[0], "+");
 	int i;
@@ -391,7 +389,10 @@ bool handle_command(struct sway_config *config, char *exec) {
 		char **argv = split_directive(exec + strlen(handler->command), &argc);
 		int i;
 
-		argv[0] = do_var_replacement(config, argv[0]);
+		//Perform var subs on all parts of the command
+		for (i = 0; i < argc; ++i) {
+			argv[i] = do_var_replacement(config, argv[i]);
+		}
 
 		exec_success = handler->handle(config, argc, argv);
 		for (i = 0; i < argc; ++i) {
diff --git a/sway/config.c b/sway/config.c
index 8b4221de9..7fbd7a69d 100644
--- a/sway/config.c
+++ b/sway/config.c
@@ -90,7 +90,9 @@ _continue:
 	
 	if (!config->init_workspace) {
 		sway_log(L_INFO, "No workspace names set, defaulting to 1");
-		config->init_workspace = "1";
+		char* default_init_workspace = "1";
+		config->init_workspace = malloc(strlen(default_init_workspace) + 1);
+		strcpy(config->init_workspace, default_init_workspace);
 	}
 
 	return config;