diff --git a/dotenv.sh b/dotenv.sh
index b88c8dc..e2056c6 100755
--- a/dotenv.sh
+++ b/dotenv.sh
@@ -56,9 +56,14 @@ export_envs() {
 			continue
 		fi
 
-		value=$(eval echo "$temp")
+		# Strip any existing quotes
+		temp="${temp%[\'\"]}";
+		temp="${temp#[\'\"]}";
+		# Add new double quotes for interpolation
+		value=$(eval echo "\"$temp\"");
+
 		eval export "$key='$value'";
-			echo "$key=$value" >> $GITHUB_ENV
+		echo "$key=$value" >> $GITHUB_ENV;
 	done < $1
 }
 
diff --git a/tests/.env b/tests/.env
index aa438ea..a5135eb 100644
--- a/tests/.env
+++ b/tests/.env
@@ -13,5 +13,7 @@ TEST_INTERPOLATION="$TEST_UNQUOTED d=4"
 TEST_EXISTING="new-value"
 # Test secrets override defaults
 TEST_DOTENV_OVERRIDES_DEFAULT="expected"
+# Test special characters are escaped
+TEST_SPECIAL_CHARACTER=special(character
 # Test that the last variable is parsed despite no trailing new line
-TEST_NO_NEWLINE="still there"
+TEST_NO_NEWLINE="still there"
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/tests/dotenv-test.sh b/tests/dotenv-test.sh
index a458a08..388f2b0 100755
--- a/tests/dotenv-test.sh
+++ b/tests/dotenv-test.sh
@@ -22,6 +22,7 @@ main() {
     assert_equal "$TEST_NO_NEWLINE" 'still there' 'Testing parsing of last line'
     assert_equal "$TEST_DEFAULT_ENVFILE" 'expected' 'Test loading variables from default.env file'
     assert_equal "$TEST_DOTENV_OVERRIDES_DEFAULT" 'expected' 'Test .env variables override variables from default.env file'
+    assert_equal "$TEST_SPECIAL_CHARACTER" 'special(character' 'Testing special characters'
 
     TEST_NO_ENVFILE=`DOTENV_FILE=nonexistent.env ../dotenv.sh 2>&1` # Close stdout for this test
     assert_equal "$TEST_NO_ENVFILE" "nonexistent.env file not found" 'Test error message from missing .env file'