diff --git a/kql-cli/src/main/java/io/confluent/kql/KQL.java b/kql-cli/src/main/java/io/confluent/kql/KQL.java
index f12b4cea82cc..46809846ddc1 100644
--- a/kql-cli/src/main/java/io/confluent/kql/KQL.java
+++ b/kql-cli/src/main/java/io/confluent/kql/KQL.java
@@ -76,6 +76,7 @@ public void startConsole() throws Exception {
           new AnsiStringsCompleter("select", "show queries",
                                    "terminate", "exit", "describe", "print", "list topics",
                                    "list streams", "create topic", "create stream", "create table"));
+      console.setExpandEvents(false); // Disable event expansion so things like '!=' are left alone by the console reader
       String line = null;
       while ((line = console.readLine()) != null) {
         if (line.length() == 0) {
@@ -86,9 +87,9 @@ public void startConsole() throws Exception {
           for (String runningQueryId : liveQueries.keySet()) {
             liveQueries.get(runningQueryId).getQueryKafkaStreams().close();
           }
-          console.println("");
+          console.println();
           console.println("Goodbye!");
-          console.println("");
+          console.println();
           console.flush();
           console.close();
           System.exit(0);
@@ -316,7 +317,7 @@ private void startQuery(final String queryString, final Query query) throws Exce
           queryPairInfo.getQueryOutputNode());
     }
     if (isCLI) {
-      console.println("");
+      console.println();
     }
   }
 
@@ -422,7 +423,7 @@ private void showColumns(final String name) throws IOException {
     }
     console.println("TOPIC: " + name.toUpperCase() + "    Key: " + dataSource.getKeyField().name()
                     + "    Type: " + dataSource.getDataSourceType());
-    console.println("");
+    console.println();
     console.println(
         "      Column       |         Type         |                   Comment                   ");
     console.println(