diff --git a/api/go.mod b/api/go.mod
index 8c8a06043..56bf2002c 100644
--- a/api/go.mod
+++ b/api/go.mod
@@ -6,6 +6,7 @@ require (
 	github.com/evanphx/json-patch v4.5.0+incompatible
 	github.com/go-openapi/spec v0.19.4
 	github.com/golangci/golangci-lint v1.21.0
+	github.com/google/shlex v0.0.0-20191202100458-e7afc7fbc510
 	github.com/monopole/mdrip v1.0.0
 	github.com/pkg/errors v0.8.1
 	golang.org/x/tools v0.0.0-20191010075000-0337d82405ff
diff --git a/api/go.sum b/api/go.sum
index 9dfdab7f4..c1ffff21d 100644
--- a/api/go.sum
+++ b/api/go.sum
@@ -168,6 +168,8 @@ github.com/google/gofuzz v0.0.0-20161122191042-44d81051d367/go.mod h1:HP5RmnzzSN
 github.com/google/gofuzz v1.0.0 h1:A8PeW59pxE9IoFRqBp37U+mSNaQoZ46F1f0f863XSXw=
 github.com/google/gofuzz v1.0.0/go.mod h1:dBl0BpW6vV/+mYPU4Po3pmUjxk6FQPldtuIdl/M65Eg=
 github.com/google/renameio v0.1.0/go.mod h1:KWCgfxg9yswjAJkECMjeO8J8rahYeXnNhOm40UhjYkI=
+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 v1.1.1/go.mod h1:TIyPZe4MgqvfeYDBFedMoGGpEw/LqOeaOT+nhxU+yHo=
 github.com/googleapis/gnostic v0.0.0-20170729233727-0c5108395e2d/go.mod h1:sJBsCZ4ayReDTBIg8b9dl28c5xFWyhBTVRp3pOg5EKY=
 github.com/googleapis/gnostic v0.3.0 h1:CcQijm0XKekKjP/YCz28LXVSpgguuB+nCxaSjCe09y0=
diff --git a/api/internal/plugins/execplugin/execplugin.go b/api/internal/plugins/execplugin/execplugin.go
index 52b1582bd..c8fc8e25d 100644
--- a/api/internal/plugins/execplugin/execplugin.go
+++ b/api/internal/plugins/execplugin/execplugin.go
@@ -12,6 +12,8 @@ import (
 	"strconv"
 	"strings"
 
+	"github.com/google/shlex"
+
 	"github.com/pkg/errors"
 	"sigs.k8s.io/kustomize/api/resid"
 	"sigs.k8s.io/kustomize/api/resmap"
@@ -86,7 +88,7 @@ func (p *ExecPlugin) processOptionalArgsFields() error {
 	var c argsConfig
 	yaml.Unmarshal(p.cfg, &c)
 	if c.ArgsOneLiner != "" {
-		p.args = strings.Split(c.ArgsOneLiner, " ")
+		p.args, _ = shlex.Split(c.ArgsOneLiner)
 	}
 	if c.ArgsFromFile != "" {
 		content, err := p.h.Loader().Load(c.ArgsFromFile)
diff --git a/api/internal/plugins/execplugin/execplugin_test.go b/api/internal/plugins/execplugin/execplugin_test.go
index ca1d1dc60..998229cfa 100644
--- a/api/internal/plugins/execplugin/execplugin_test.go
+++ b/api/internal/plugins/execplugin/execplugin_test.go
@@ -43,9 +43,16 @@ s/$BAR/bar/g
 			"metadata": map[string]interface{}{
 				"name": "some-random-name",
 			},
-			"argsOneLiner": "one two",
+			"argsOneLiner": "one two 'foo bar'",
 			"argsFromFile": "sed-input.txt",
 		})
+
+	ldr.AddFile("/app/sed-input.txt", []byte(`
+s/$FOO/foo/g
+s/$BAR/bar baz/g
+ \ \ \ 
+`))
+
 	p := NewExecPlugin(
 		pLdr.AbsolutePluginPath(
 			konfig.DisabledPluginConfig(),
@@ -69,7 +76,7 @@ s/$BAR/bar/g
 
 	expected = `apiVersion: someteam.example.com/v1
 argsFromFile: sed-input.txt
-argsOneLiner: one two
+argsOneLiner: one two 'foo bar'
 kind: SedTransformer
 metadata:
   name: some-random-name
@@ -78,15 +85,16 @@ metadata:
 		t.Fatalf("expected cfg '%s', got '%s'", expected, string(p.Cfg()))
 
 	}
-	if len(p.Args()) != 5 {
-		t.Fatalf("unexpected arg len %d, %v", len(p.Args()), p.Args())
+	if len(p.Args()) != 6 {
+		t.Fatalf("unexpected arg len %d, %#v", len(p.Args()), p.Args())
 	}
 	if p.Args()[0] != "one" ||
 		p.Args()[1] != "two" ||
-		p.Args()[2] != "s/$FOO/foo/g" ||
-		p.Args()[3] != "s/$BAR/bar/g" ||
-		p.Args()[4] != "\\ \\ \\ " {
-		t.Fatalf("unexpected arg array: %v", p.Args())
+		p.Args()[2] != "foo bar" ||
+		p.Args()[3] != "s/$FOO/foo/g" ||
+		p.Args()[4] != "s/$BAR/bar baz/g" ||
+		p.Args()[5] != "\\ \\ \\ " {
+		t.Fatalf("unexpected arg array: %#v", p.Args())
 	}
 }