diff --git a/README.asciidoc b/README.asciidoc
index 43b6b6fca..01b8cce80 100644
--- a/README.asciidoc
+++ b/README.asciidoc
@@ -162,6 +162,7 @@ Contributors, sorted by the number of commits in descending order:
 * John ShaggyTwoDope Jenkins
 * Peter Vilim
 * Tarcisio Fedrizzi
+* Oliver Caldwell
 * Jonas Schürmann
 * Panagiotis Ktistakis
 * Jimmy
diff --git a/qutebrowser/config/configtypes.py b/qutebrowser/config/configtypes.py
index 177f55456..65ea745c1 100644
--- a/qutebrowser/config/configtypes.py
+++ b/qutebrowser/config/configtypes.py
@@ -1094,7 +1094,7 @@ class ShellCommand(BaseType):
             shlex.split(value)
         except ValueError as e:
             raise configexc.ValidationError(value, str(e))
-        if self.placeholder and '{}' not in self.transform(value):
+        if self.placeholder and '{}' not in value:
             raise configexc.ValidationError(value, "needs to contain a "
                                             "{}-placeholder.")
 
diff --git a/qutebrowser/misc/editor.py b/qutebrowser/misc/editor.py
index 2fa9791e9..143eb0a9c 100644
--- a/qutebrowser/misc/editor.py
+++ b/qutebrowser/misc/editor.py
@@ -124,6 +124,6 @@ class ExternalEditor(QObject):
         self._proc.error.connect(self.on_proc_error)
         editor = config.get('general', 'editor')
         executable = editor[0]
-        args = [self._filename if arg == '{}' else arg for arg in editor[1:]]
+        args = [arg.replace('{}', self._filename) for arg in editor[1:]]
         log.procs.debug("Calling \"{}\" with args {}".format(executable, args))
         self._proc.start(executable, args)
diff --git a/tests/unit/config/test_configtypes.py b/tests/unit/config/test_configtypes.py
index cacc898ee..3cdde6b95 100644
--- a/tests/unit/config/test_configtypes.py
+++ b/tests/unit/config/test_configtypes.py
@@ -1580,14 +1580,16 @@ class TestShellCommand:
         ({'none_ok': True}, ''),
         ({}, 'foobar'),
         ({'placeholder': '{}'}, 'foo {} bar'),
+        ({'placeholder': '{}'}, 'foo{}bar'),
+        ({'placeholder': '{}'}, 'foo "bar {}"'),
     ])
     def test_validate_valid(self, klass, kwargs, val):
         klass(**kwargs).validate(val)
 
     @pytest.mark.parametrize('kwargs, val', [
         ({}, ''),
-        ({'placeholder': '{}'}, 'foo{} bar'),
         ({'placeholder': '{}'}, 'foo bar'),
+        ({'placeholder': '{}'}, 'foo { } bar'),
         ({}, 'foo"'),  # not splittable with shlex
     ])
     def test_validate_invalid(self, klass, kwargs, val):
diff --git a/tests/unit/misc/test_editor.py b/tests/unit/misc/test_editor.py
index a005c265e..dbc4c51ed 100644
--- a/tests/unit/misc/test_editor.py
+++ b/tests/unit/misc/test_editor.py
@@ -57,7 +57,7 @@ class TestArg:
         editor: The ExternalEditor instance to test.
     """
 
-    @pytest.mark.parametrize('args', [[], ['foo', 'bar'], ['foo{}bar']])
+    @pytest.mark.parametrize('args', [[], ['foo'], ['foo', 'bar']])
     def test_start_no_placeholder(self, config_stub, editor, args):
         """Test starting editor without arguments."""
         config_stub.data['general']['editor'] = ['bin'] + args
@@ -71,6 +71,13 @@ class TestArg:
         editor._proc._proc.start.assert_called_with(
             "bin", ["foo", editor._filename, "bar"])
 
+    def test_placeholder_inline(self, config_stub, editor):
+        """Test starting editor with placeholder arg inside of another arg."""
+        config_stub.data['general']['editor'] = ['bin', 'foo{}', 'bar']
+        editor.edit("")
+        editor._proc._proc.start.assert_called_with(
+            "bin", ["foo" + editor._filename, "bar"])
+
 
 class TestFileHandling: