diff --git a/profile.d/conf.sh b/profile.d/conf.sh
index c13836b..bf4fad1 100755
--- a/profile.d/conf.sh
+++ b/profile.d/conf.sh
@@ -53,7 +53,7 @@ conf_save()
 
     local section="$1" key="$2" value="$3"
 
-    if ! [[ "$section" =~ ^[a-zA-Z_][a-zA-Z0-9_]*$ ]]; then
+    if ! [[ "$section" =~ ^[a-zA-Z0-9_]+$ ]]; then
         disp E "conf_save: invalid section name '${section}' (alphanumeric and underscore only)."
         return 1
     fi
@@ -87,8 +87,12 @@ conf_save()
     fi
 
     local tmp_file="${conf_file}.tmp.$$"
-    awk -v sec="$section" -v key="$key" -v val="$value" '
+    # The value is passed via ENVIRON (not awk -v) so backslashes are preserved
+    # verbatim; awk -v would interpret C escape sequences (\t, \n, \e, ...).
+    _CONF_SAVE_VAL="$value" \
+    awk -v sec="$section" -v key="$key" '
         BEGIN {
+            val     = ENVIRON["_CONF_SAVE_VAL"]
             in_sec  = 0
             saw_sec = 0
             wrote   = 0
@@ -203,6 +207,10 @@ conf_dump()
                 shift
                 break
                 ;;
+            *)
+                disp E "Invalid option, use \"conf_dump --help\" to display options list"
+                return 1
+                ;;
         esac
     done