diff --git a/mswin32/Makefile b/mswin32/Makefile
index 14f06c883..3f848be3e 100644
--- a/mswin32/Makefile
+++ b/mswin32/Makefile
@@ -15,7 +15,7 @@ winbuild:
 	@cat ./nsis/Nmap.nsi | sed 's/VIProductVersion ".*"/VIProductVersion "$(NMAP_NUM_VERSION)"/' > ./nmap.nsi.tmp
 	@cat ./nmap.nsi.tmp | sed 's/!define VERSION ".*"/!define VERSION "$(NMAP_VERSION)"/' > ./nsis/Nmap.nsi
 	@rm ./nmap.nsi.tmp ./nmap.rc.tmp
-	@sed -f ./license-sed/lic_sedexp_1 ../COPYING | sed -f ./license-sed/lic_sedexp_2 | sed -f ./license-sed/lic_sedexp_3 | sed -f ./license-sed/lic_sedexp_4 > LICENSE
+	@./license-format/licformat.sh ../COPYING > LICENSE
 
 	$(VCEXPRESS) nmap.sln /build release /log $(LOGLOC)
 	$(MAKENSIS) winpcap/winpcap-nmap.nsi
diff --git a/mswin32/license-format/licformat.sh b/mswin32/license-format/licformat.sh
new file mode 100755
index 000000000..ef9ffec6a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/mswin32/license-format/licformat.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,12 @@
+#!/bin/bash
+
+sed -f ./license-format/licsed_1 $1 | tr '\n' ' '| awk 'NR==1{printf("\n%s", $0) }' |
+
+awk '{for (i=1&&j=2; i <= NF; i++&&j++) if($i=="SDFGHJdblnewline"){printf("\n\n")}
+else if($i=="oSDFGHbullet"){printf(" \no ")}
+else if($i=="Copyright" && $j=="(C)"){printf("\n%s ",$i)}
+else if($i=="author" && $j=="Gnomovision"){printf("author\n")}
+else if($i=="1989" && $j== "Ty"){printf("1989\n")}
+else{printf("%s ",$i)}}' |
+
+sed -f ./license-format/licsed_2
diff --git a/mswin32/license-sed/lic_sedexp_1 b/mswin32/license-format/licsed_1
similarity index 61%
rename from mswin32/license-sed/lic_sedexp_1
rename to mswin32/license-format/licsed_1
index bf6bd5496..9755001f3 100644
--- a/mswin32/license-sed/lic_sedexp_1
+++ b/mswin32/license-format/licsed_1
@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@
 s@\*\*@@g
 
 # preserve double hyphens between words in GNU GPL
-s@\([^\S\-]\)\-\-\([^\S\-]\)@\1SDFGHdbldash\2@g
+s@\([^\-]\)\-\-\([^\-]\)@\1SDFGHdbldash\2@g
 
 # remove horizontal hyphens
 s@\-\-@@g
@@ -11,22 +11,26 @@ s@\-\-@@g
 s@SDFGHdbldash@--@g
 
 # remove trailing asterisk
-s@\s*\*\s*$@@g
+s@[ ]*\*[ ]*$@@g
 
 # remove leading asterisk
-s@^\s*\*\s*@@g
+s@^[ 	]*\*@@
 
 # remove lonely slash
 s@^/$@@g
 
 # remove leading whitespace
-s@^\s\+@@g
+s@^[ 	]*@@g
 
 # preserve bullets
-s@^o\s@oSDFGHbullet@g
+s@^o @ oSDFGHbullet @g
 
 # preserve sentence spacing
-s@\.\s\s\(\S\)@.SDFGHJdblspace\1@g
+s@\.  \([A-Za-z0-9]\)@.SDFGHJdblspace\1@g
 
 # remove first line
 1d
+
+# read entire input and preserve paragraph separation
+s@^$@ SDFGHJdblnewline @
+
diff --git a/mswin32/license-format/licsed_2 b/mswin32/license-format/licsed_2
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..1eab79c66
--- /dev/null
+++ b/mswin32/license-format/licsed_2
@@ -0,0 +1,12 @@
+
+# collapse whitespace
+s@  @ @g
+s@ $@@g
+
+2d
+
+# reintroduce bullets
+s@oSDFGHbullet@o @g
+
+# reintroduce sentence spacing
+s@SDFGHJdblspace@  @g
diff --git a/mswin32/license-sed/lic_sedexp_2 b/mswin32/license-sed/lic_sedexp_2
deleted file mode 100644
index 30394cffb..000000000
--- a/mswin32/license-sed/lic_sedexp_2
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,8 +0,0 @@
-# read entire input and preserve paragraph separation
-
-: more
-$!N
-t enough
-$!b more
-: enough
-s@\n\n@SDFGHJdblnewline@g
diff --git a/mswin32/license-sed/lic_sedexp_3 b/mswin32/license-sed/lic_sedexp_3
deleted file mode 100644
index b3f6f29b1..000000000
--- a/mswin32/license-sed/lic_sedexp_3
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,8 +0,0 @@
-# read entire input and replace all newlines with a space
-
-: more
-$!N
-t enough
-$!b more
-: enough
-s@\n@ @g
diff --git a/mswin32/license-sed/lic_sedexp_4 b/mswin32/license-sed/lic_sedexp_4
deleted file mode 100644
index e45f68ca4..000000000
--- a/mswin32/license-sed/lic_sedexp_4
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,19 +0,0 @@
-# newline first line
-s@^\s\(COPYING\)@\n\1@g
-
-# collapse whitespace
-s@\s\s@ @g
-
-# reintroduce double newlines
-s@SDFGHJdblnewline@\n\n@g
-
-# reintroduce bullets
-s@oSDFGHbullet@\no @g
-
-# reintroduce sentence spacing
-s@SDFGHJdblspace@  @g
-
-# Clean up GNU "How to apply"
-s@\.\s\(Copyright (C) 19yy\)@\.\n\1@g
-s@\(name\sof\sauthor\)\s\(Gnomovision\)@\1\n\2@g
-s@1989 Ty Coon@1989\nTy Coon@g
\ No newline at end of file