diff --git a/content/commands.js b/content/commands.js
index 35ebeb41..9b5bc1e0 100644
--- a/content/commands.js
+++ b/content/commands.js
@@ -129,6 +129,7 @@ function Commands() //{{{
     /////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////{{{
 
     var ex_commands = [];
+    var last_run_command = ""; // updated whenever the users runs a command with :!
 
     function addDefaultCommand(command)
     {
@@ -177,7 +178,6 @@ function Commands() //{{{
         return null;
     }
 
-
     // FIXME: doesn't really belong here...
     // return [null, null, null, null, heredoc_tag || false];
     //        [count, cmd, special, args] = match;
@@ -1762,19 +1762,25 @@ function Commands() //{{{
     addDefaultCommand(new Command(["!", "run"],
         function(args, special)
         {
-            // TODO: if special, run the last command
+            // :!! needs to be treated specially as the command parser sets the special flag but removes the ! from args
+            if (special)
+                args = "!" + (args || "");
+
+            // TODO: better escaping of ! to also substitute \\! correctly
+            args = args.replace(/(^|[^\\])!/g, "$1" + last_run_command);
+            last_run_command = args;
+
             var output = vimperator.system(args)
-            if (typeof output === "string")
+            if (output)
                 vimperator.echo(vimperator.util.escapeHTML(output));
-            else
-                // FIXME: why are we accepting only a string return value from v.system()? -- djk
-                vimperator.echoerr("Invalid system command: " + args);
         },
         {
-            usage: ["!{command}"],
+            usage: ["!{cmd}"],
             short_help: "Run a command",
-            help: "Runs {command} through system() and displays its output. " +
-                  "Input redirection (< foo) not done, do not run commands which require stdin or it will hang Firefox!"
+            help: "Runs <code class=\"argument\">{cmd}</code> through system() and displays its output. " +
+                  "Any '!' in <code class=\"argument\">{cmd}</code> is replaced with the previous external command. " +
+                  "But not when there is a backslash before the '!', then that backslash is removed.<br/>" +
+                  "Input redirection (< foo) not done, also do not run commands which require stdin or it will hang Firefox!"
         }
     ));
     //}}}
diff --git a/content/vimperator.js b/content/vimperator.js
index f33931cb..4ee726fd 100644
--- a/content/vimperator.js
+++ b/content/vimperator.js
@@ -631,10 +631,15 @@ const vimperator = (function() //{{{
 
         run: function(program, args, blocking)
         {
+            var file = Cc["@mozilla.org/file/local;1"].createInstance(Ci.nsILocalFile);
             const WINDOWS = navigator.platform == "Win32";
 
-            var file = Components.classes["@mozilla.org/file/local;1"].
-                                  createInstance(Components.interfaces.nsILocalFile);
+            if (!args)
+                args = [];
+
+            if (typeof(blocking) != "boolean")
+                blocking = false;
+
             try
             {
                 file.initWithPath(program);
@@ -654,14 +659,14 @@ const vimperator = (function() //{{{
                     catch (e) { }
                 }
             }
+
             if (!file.exists())
             {
                 vimperator.echoerr("command not found: " + program);
                 return -1;
             }
 
-            var process = Components.classes["@mozilla.org/process/util;1"].
-                                     createInstance(Components.interfaces.nsIProcess);
+            var process = Cc["@mozilla.org/process/util;1"].createInstance(Ci.nsIProcess);
             process.init(file);
              
             var ec = process.run(blocking, args, args.length);
@@ -670,7 +675,6 @@ const vimperator = (function() //{{{
 
         // when https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=68702 is fixed
         // is fixed, should use that instead of a tmpfile
-        // TODO: pass "input" as stdin
         // TODO: add shell/shellcmdflag options to replace "sh" and "-c"
         system: function (str, input)
         {
@@ -695,14 +699,15 @@ const vimperator = (function() //{{{
                 command += " < \"" + filein.path.replace('"', '\\"') + "\"";
             }
 
+            var res;
             if (WINDOWS)
-                this.run("cmd.exe", ["/C", command], true);
+                res = this.run("cmd.exe", ["/C", command], true);
             else
-                this.run("sh", ["-c", command], true);
+                res = this.run("sh", ["-c", command], true);
 
             var fd = vimperator.fopen(fileout, "<");
             if (!fd)
-                return null;
+                return "";
 
             var s = fd.read();
             fd.close();
@@ -710,6 +715,10 @@ const vimperator = (function() //{{{
             if (filein)
                 filein.remove(false);
 
+            // if there is only one \n at the end, chop it off
+            if (s && s.indexOf("\n") == s.length-1)
+                s = s.substr(0, s.length-1);
+
             return s;
         },