diff --git a/cmd/cue/cmd/script_test.go b/cmd/cue/cmd/script_test.go
index 233cc9b19f1..32fcd1740fe 100644
--- a/cmd/cue/cmd/script_test.go
+++ b/cmd/cue/cmd/script_test.go
@@ -27,6 +27,7 @@ import (
 	"strings"
 	"testing"
 
+	"github.com/google/shlex"
 	"github.com/rogpeppe/go-internal/goproxytest"
 	"github.com/rogpeppe/go-internal/gotooltest"
 	"github.com/rogpeppe/go-internal/testscript"
@@ -154,13 +155,10 @@ func TestX(t *testing.T) {
 			continue
 		}
 
-		// TODO: Ugly hack to get args. Do more principled parsing.
-		var args []string
-		for _, a := range strings.Split(cmd, " ")[1:] {
-			args = append(args, strings.Trim(a, "'"))
-		}
+		args, err := shlex.Split(cmd)
+		check(err)
 
-		c, err := New(args)
+		c, err := New(args[1:])
 		check(err)
 		b := &bytes.Buffer{}
 		c.SetOutput(b)
diff --git a/go.mod b/go.mod
index 3dc147bed67..a77dbf5bb19 100644
--- a/go.mod
+++ b/go.mod
@@ -5,6 +5,7 @@ require (
 	github.com/cockroachdb/apd/v2 v2.0.1
 	github.com/emicklei/proto v1.6.15
 	github.com/google/go-cmp v0.4.0
+	github.com/google/shlex v0.0.0-20191202100458-e7afc7fbc510
 	github.com/google/uuid v1.2.0
 	github.com/kr/pretty v0.1.0
 	github.com/kylelemons/godebug v1.1.0
diff --git a/go.sum b/go.sum
index cfe3f2bd92e..c3de26aa440 100644
--- a/go.sum
+++ b/go.sum
@@ -45,6 +45,8 @@ github.com/google/btree v1.0.0/go.mod h1:lNA+9X1NB3Zf8V7Ke586lFgjr2dZNuvo3lPJSGZ
 github.com/google/go-cmp v0.2.0/go.mod h1:oXzfMopK8JAjlY9xF4vHSVASa0yLyX7SntLO5aqRK0M=
 github.com/google/go-cmp v0.4.0 h1:xsAVV57WRhGj6kEIi8ReJzQlHHqcBYCElAvkovg3B/4=
 github.com/google/go-cmp v0.4.0/go.mod h1:v8dTdLbMG2kIc/vJvl+f65V22dbkXbowE6jgT/gNBxE=
+github.com/google/shlex v0.0.0-20191202100458-e7afc7fbc510 h1:El6M4kTTCOh6aBiKaUGG7oYTSPP8MxqL4YI3kZKwcP4=
+github.com/google/shlex v0.0.0-20191202100458-e7afc7fbc510/go.mod h1:pupxD2MaaD3pAXIBCelhxNneeOaAeabZDe5s4K6zSpQ=
 github.com/google/uuid v1.2.0 h1:qJYtXnJRWmpe7m/3XlyhrsLrEURqHRM2kxzoxXqyUDs=
 github.com/google/uuid v1.2.0/go.mod h1:TIyPZe4MgqvfeYDBFedMoGGpEw/LqOeaOT+nhxU+yHo=
 github.com/gorilla/websocket v1.4.0/go.mod h1:E7qHFY5m1UJ88s3WnNqhKjPHQ0heANvMoAMk2YaljkQ=