Turns out NodeJS path normalization is enough on its own

README.md

@@ -53,7 +53,7 @@ Provide run settings for the languages you use in `settings.json`. Here are some
 We can use the following variables in the syntax of `${...}`
 - Most of [VSCode's built-in variables](https://code.visualstudio.com/docs/editor/variables-reference)
 - `${exeExtname}` returns `.exe` for Windows and an empty string for other platforms
-- `${path:*some value*}` turns \*some value\* into a valid path string for the current platform, which normalizes slashes and handles spaces
+- `${path:*value*}` normalizes \*value\* into a valid path string for the current platform
 
 <details>
   <summary>Possible settings per language</summary>

src/extension/util.ts

@@ -40,10 +40,6 @@ async function replaceAsync(string: string, regexp: RegExp, replacer: Function)
     return string.replace(regexp, () => replacements[i++]);
 }
 
-function normalizePath(str: string) {
-    return path.normalize(os.platform() === 'win32' ? `"${str}"` : str.replace(/ /g, '\ '));
-}
-
 export interface ILanguageRunSettings {
     compileCommand?: string;
     runCommand: string;
@@ -232,7 +228,7 @@ export async function resolveVariables(string: string, recursive: boolean = fals
         string = string.replace(/\${env:(.*?)}/g, match => process.env[match] ?? '');
         string = string.replace(/\${config:(.*?)}/g, match => vscode.workspace.getConfiguration().get(match) ?? '');
         string = string.replace(/\${exeExtname}/, os.platform() === 'win32' ? '.exe' : '');
-        string = await replaceAsync(string, /\${path:(.*?)}/g, async (match: string) => normalizePath(await resolveVariables(match, false, inContextOfFile)));
+        string = await replaceAsync(string, /\${path:(.*?)}/g, async (match: string) => path.normalize(await resolveVariables(match, false, inContextOfFile)));
     } while (recursive && oldString !== string);
     return string;
 }