diff --git a/confluent_client/bin/confetty b/confluent_client/bin/confetty
index 25e2cd6c..c5bbb519 100755
--- a/confluent_client/bin/confetty
+++ b/confluent_client/bin/confetty
@@ -912,7 +912,7 @@ def main():
         do_command("start /nodes/%s/console/session" % session_node, netserver)
         doexit = True
     elif shellargs:
-        command = " ".join(shellargs)
+        command = shlex.join(shellargs)
         do_command(command, netserver)
         quitconfetty(fullexit=True, fixterm=False)