diff --git a/z.lua b/z.lua
index 224c4da..31d06c5 100755
--- a/z.lua
+++ b/z.lua
@@ -128,6 +128,7 @@ Z_MATCHMODE = 0
 Z_MATCHNAME = false
 Z_SKIPPWD = false
 Z_HYPHEN = "auto"
+Z_DATA_SEPARATOR = "|"
 
 os.LOG_NAME = os.getenv('_ZL_LOG_NAME')
 
@@ -1061,6 +1062,26 @@ function path_case_insensitive()
 end
 
 
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------
+-- Read a line of the database and return a list of the 3 fields in it
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------
+function read_data_line(line)
+    local part = string.split(line, Z_DATA_SEPARATOR)
+    if #part <= 3 then
+        return part
+    end
+    -- If the part is made of more than 3 elements, it's probably because the
+    -- path element contains '|' that have been split. Thus, we want to
+    -- reconstruct it and keep the 2 last elements of part intact as the end
+    -- of the returned part.
+    local path = part[1]
+    for i=2,#part-2 do
+        path = path .. Z_DATA_SEPARATOR .. part[i]
+    end
+    return {path, part[#part-1], part[#part]}
+end
+ 
+
 -----------------------------------------------------------------------
 -- load and split data
 -----------------------------------------------------------------------
@@ -1073,7 +1094,7 @@ function data_load(filename)
 		return {}
 	end
 	for line in fp:lines() do
-		local part = string.split(line, '|')
+		local part = read_data_line(line)
 		local item = {}
 		if part and part[1] and part[2] and part[3] then
 			local key = insensitive and part[1]:lower() or part[1]
@@ -1135,7 +1156,7 @@ function data_save(filename, M)
 	end
 	for i = 1, #M do
 		local item = M[i]
-		local text = item.name .. '|' .. item.rank .. '|' .. item.time
+		local text = item.name .. Z_DATA_SEPARATOR .. item.rank .. Z_DATA_SEPARATOR .. item.time
 		fp:write(text .. '\n')
 	end
 	fp:close()