diff --git a/utils.js b/utils.js
index 81920e7..0205a47 100644
--- a/utils.js
+++ b/utils.js
@@ -48,11 +48,15 @@ var  fetchAndCacheTarballCmd = [
   'cd $packageTarballDir; tar -xzf package.tgz package/package.json',
 ].join( ';' );
 
-exports.fetchAndCacheMetadata = function ( packageName, cacheFile ){
-  var packageCacheDir = path.dirname( cacheFile );
+
+function encodePackageName( packageName ){
   //handle slash in scoped package name but do not convert @
-  packageName = encodeURIComponent(packageName).replace(/^%40/, '@');
+  return encodeURIComponent(packageName).replace(/^%40/, '@');
+}
 
+exports.fetchAndCacheMetadata = function ( packageName, cacheFile ){
+  var packageCacheDir = path.dirname( cacheFile );
+  packageName = encodePackageName( packageName );
   return exec( fetchAndCacheMetadataCmd, {
     packageCacheDir: packageCacheDir,
     REGISTRY_NAME: REGISTRY_NAME,
@@ -62,8 +66,7 @@ exports.fetchAndCacheMetadata = function ( packageName, cacheFile ){
 };
 
 exports.fetchAndCacheTarball = function ( packageName, version, tarballPath ){
-  //handle slash in scoped package name but do not convert @
-  packageName = encodeURIComponent(packageName).replace(/^%40/, '@');
+  packageName = encodePackageName( packageName );
   
   var tarballUrl = 'http://' + REGISTRY_NAME + '/' + packageName + '/-/' + packageName + '-' + version + '.tgz';
   var packageTarballDir = path.dirname( tarballPath );