diff --git a/check_json.pl b/check_json.pl
index a113755..95553e4 100755
--- a/check_json.pl
+++ b/check_json.pl
@@ -9,7 +9,7 @@ use Nagios::Plugin;
 use Data::Dumper;
 
 my $np = Nagios::Plugin->new(
-    usage => "Usage: %s -u|--url <http://user:pass@host:port/url> -a|--attributes <attributes> "
+    usage => "Usage: %s -u|--url <http://user:pass\@host:port/url> -a|--attributes <attributes> "
     . "[ -c|--critical <thresholds> ] [ -w|--warning <thresholds> ] "
     . "[ -p|--perfvars <fields> ] "
     . "[ -o|--outputvars <fields> ] "
@@ -145,8 +145,8 @@ my $resultTmp;
 
 foreach my $attribute (sort keys %attributes){
     my $check_value;
-    my $check_value_str = '$check_value = $json_response->'.$attribute;
-    
+    my $check_value_str = '$check_value = $json_response->{\'' . $attribute . '\'}';
+
     if ($np->opts->verbose) { (print Dumper ($check_value_str))};
     eval $check_value_str;
 
@@ -208,7 +208,7 @@ if ($np->opts->perfvars) {
         # make label ascii compatible
         $label =~ s/[^a-zA-Z0-9_-]//g  ;
         my $perf_value;
-        $perf_value = eval '$json_response->'.$key;
+        $perf_value = $json_response->{$key};
         if ($np->opts->verbose) { print Dumper ("JSON key: ".$label.", JSON val: " . $perf_value) };
         if ( defined($perf_value) ) {
             # add threshold if attribute option matches key
@@ -237,9 +237,9 @@ if ($np->opts->outputvars) {
         my $label = (split('->', $key))[-1];
         # make label ascii compatible
         $label =~ s/[^a-zA-Z0-9_-]//g;
-        my $perf_value;
-        $perf_value = eval '$json_response->'.$key;
-	   push(@statusmsg, "$label: $perf_value");
+        my $output_value;
+        $output_value = $json_response->{$key};
+        push(@statusmsg, "$label: $output_value");
     }
 }