diff --git a/src/doc/buffer.h/buffer_putescall.3.md b/src/doc/buffer.h/buffer_putescall.3.md
index 2bbabee..714f222 100644
--- a/src/doc/buffer.h/buffer_putescall.3.md
+++ b/src/doc/buffer.h/buffer_putescall.3.md
@@ -11,7 +11,7 @@ buffer
     #include <limb/buffer.h>
 
 ```pre hl
-size_t buffer_putescall(buffer *<em>b</em>, const char *<em>s</em>, size_t <em>len</em>, size_t *<em>pos</em>)
+int buffer_putescall(buffer *<em>b</em>, const char *<em>s</em>, size_t <em>len</em>, size_t *<em>w</em>, size_t *<em>r</em>)
 ssize_t buffer_putesc(buffer *<em>b</em>, const char *<em>s</em>, size_t <em>len</em>)
 ssize_t buffer_putescs(buffer *<em>b</em>, const char *<em>s</em>)
 ```
@@ -19,12 +19,13 @@ ssize_t buffer_putescs(buffer *<em>b</em>, const char *<em>s</em>)
 # DESCRIPTION
 
 The `buffer_putescall`() function will write the content of `s` of length `len`
-starting at position pointed by `pos` (usually 0) into buffer `b`, whilst
+starting at position pointed by `r` (usually 0) into buffer `b`, whilst
 taking care of escaping characters as needed. This means more characters might
 be written into `b` than present in `s`.
 
-The value pointed by `pos` will be updated to reflect the position inside
-`s` afterwards.
+The value pointed by `r` will be updated to reflect the position inside
+`s` afterwards, while the value pointed by `w` will be updated with the length
+actually written into the buffer.
 
 The `buffer_putesc`() function does the same always processing `s` from the
 start.
@@ -36,12 +37,11 @@ For more about the escaping performed, refer to [esc_fmt](3).
 
 # RETURN VALUE
 
-The `buffer_putescall`() function returns the number of bytes written into `b`
-on success, which can be more than processed from `s` due to the escaping.
-Otherwise, it returns 0 and sets `errno` to indicate the error.
+The `buffer_putescall`() function returns 1 on success, otherwise it returns 0
+and sets `errno` to indicate the error.
 
 The `buffer_putesc`() and `buffer_putescs`() functions return the number of
-bytes processed from `s` on success. Otherwise they returns -1 and sets `errno`
+bytes written into `buf` on success. Otherwise they returns -1 and sets `errno`
 to indicate the error.
 
 # ERRORS
@@ -49,7 +49,7 @@ to indicate the error.
 The `buffer_putescall`() function may fail if :
 
 : *EINVAL*
-:: `pos` was too high
+:: `r` was too high (i.e. more than `len`).
 
 All of these may also fail and set `errno` for any of the errors specified for
 [buffer_flush](3).
diff --git a/src/liblimb/buffer.h/buffer_putesc.c b/src/liblimb/buffer.h/buffer_putesc.c
index ecff395..49a7c3b 100644
--- a/src/liblimb/buffer.h/buffer_putesc.c
+++ b/src/liblimb/buffer.h/buffer_putesc.c
@@ -7,8 +7,8 @@
 ssize_t
 buffer_putesc(buffer *b, const char *s, size_t len)
 {
-    size_t w = 0;
-    if (!buffer_putescall(b, s, len, &w))
+    size_t w, r = 0;
+    if (!buffer_putescall(b, s, len, &w, &r))
         return -1;
     return w;
 }
diff --git a/src/liblimb/buffer.h/buffer_putescall.c b/src/liblimb/buffer.h/buffer_putescall.c
index a8681db..27dbed1 100644
--- a/src/liblimb/buffer.h/buffer_putescall.c
+++ b/src/liblimb/buffer.h/buffer_putescall.c
@@ -5,24 +5,31 @@
 #include <limb/buffer.h>
 #include <limb/esc.h>
 
-size_t
-buffer_putescall(buffer *b, const char *s, size_t len, size_t *pos)
+int
+buffer_putescall(buffer *b, const char *s, size_t len, size_t *w, size_t *r)
 {
-    if (*pos > len) return (errno = EINVAL, 0);
-    size_t written = 0;
+    if (*r > len) return (errno = EINVAL, 0);
 
-    for (;;) {
+    *w = 0;
+    while (*r < len) {
         char buf[64];
-        size_t w = 0;
+        size_t realw, realr;
 
-        escall_fmt(buf, sizeof(buf), s, len, &w, pos);
-        written += buffer_putnoflush(b, buf, w);
-        if (*pos >= len) return written;
-
-        if (buffer_isfull(b)) {
+        realr = *r;
+        realw = 0;
+        escall_fmt(buf, sizeof(buf), s, len, &realw, &realr);
+        for (size_t p = 0; ; ) {
+            p += buffer_putnoflush(b, buf + p, realw - p);
+            if (p == realw)
+                break;
             buffer_flush(b);
-            if (buffer_isfull(b))
+            if (buffer_isfull(b)) {
+                buffer_unput(b, p);
                 return 0;
+            }
         }
+        *r = realr;
+        *w += realw;
     }
+    return 1;
 }
diff --git a/src/liblimb/include/limb/buffer.h b/src/liblimb/include/limb/buffer.h
index a6a3be6..6365b28 100644
--- a/src/liblimb/include/limb/buffer.h
+++ b/src/liblimb/include/limb/buffer.h
@@ -41,7 +41,7 @@
 /* Writing */
 
 extern void buffer_putmsg(buffer *b, const char * const *as, unsigned int n);
-extern size_t buffer_putescall(buffer *b, const char *s, size_t len, size_t *pos);
+extern int buffer_putescall(buffer *b, const char *s, size_t len, size_t *w, size_t *r);
 extern ssize_t buffer_putesc(buffer *b, const char *s, size_t len);
 extern ssize_t buffer_putescs(buffer *b, const char *s);
 extern ssize_t buffer_puthex(buffer *b, const void *data, size_t dlen, int options);