diff --git a/scripts/rpc.py b/scripts/rpc.py
index 3d5d3a82cd..d7b99a6e07 100755
--- a/scripts/rpc.py
+++ b/scripts/rpc.py
@@ -6,6 +6,7 @@ import logging
 import argparse
 import rpc
 import sys
+import shlex
 
 try:
     from shlex import quote
@@ -1802,7 +1803,7 @@ Format: 'user:u1 secret:s1 muser:mu1 msecret:ms1,user:u2 secret:s2 muser:mu2 mse
 
     def execute_script(parser, client, fd):
         for rpc_call in map(str.rstrip, fd):
-            args = parser.parse_args(rpc_call.split())
+            args = parser.parse_args(shlex.split(rpc_call))
             args.client = client
             call_rpc_func(args)