diff --git a/common/content/dactyl.js b/common/content/dactyl.js
index 02291439..cd1db29e 100644
--- a/common/content/dactyl.js
+++ b/common/content/dactyl.js
@@ -1269,9 +1269,9 @@ const Dactyl = Module("dactyl", {
                 }
             });
 
-        options.add(["urlseparator"],
+        options.add(["urlseparator", "us"],
             "Set the separator regex used to separate multiple URL args",
-            "string", "|");
+            "string", "\\|");
 
         options.add(["verbose", "vbs"],
             "Define which info messages are displayed",
diff --git a/common/locale/en-US/options.xml b/common/locale/en-US/options.xml
index 6a097e9e..e1f6a0f5 100644
--- a/common/locale/en-US/options.xml
+++ b/common/locale/en-US/options.xml
@@ -1334,7 +1334,7 @@
     <tags>'us' 'urlseparator'</tags>
     <spec>'urlseparator'</spec>
     <type>string</type>
-    <default>|</default>
+    <default>\\|</default>
     <description>
         <p>
             The regular expression used to split URL lists in commands