diff --git a/main/command/src/main/scala/sbt/BasicCommands.scala b/main/command/src/main/scala/sbt/BasicCommands.scala
index 205b53a65..b961df464 100644
--- a/main/command/src/main/scala/sbt/BasicCommands.scala
+++ b/main/command/src/main/scala/sbt/BasicCommands.scala
@@ -96,11 +96,9 @@ object BasicCommands
 		token(base, compl)
 	}
 	private[this] def classpathOptionParser: Parser[Seq[String]] =
-		token( ("-cp" | "-classpath") ~> Space ) ~> rep1sep(classpathString, token(File.pathSeparatorChar)) <~ token(Space)
-	private[this] def classpathString: Parser[String] =
-		token(charClass(entryClass, "<classpath-entry>").+.string, "<classpath-entry>")
-	private[this] def entryClass(c: Char): Boolean = 
-		c != File.pathSeparatorChar && !java.lang.Character.isWhitespace(c)
+		token( ("-cp" | "-classpath") ~> Space ) ~> classpathStrings <~ token(Space)
+	private[this] def classpathStrings: Parser[Seq[String]] =
+		token(StringBasic.map(s => IO.pathSplit(s).toSeq), "<classpath>")
 
 	def exit = Command.command(TerminateAction, exitBrief, exitBrief ) ( _ exit true )
 
diff --git a/sbt/src/sbt-test/actions/call/build.sbt b/sbt/src/sbt-test/actions/call/build.sbt
index 165393b53..8ff9b8f9d 100644
--- a/sbt/src/sbt-test/actions/call/build.sbt
+++ b/sbt/src/sbt-test/actions/call/build.sbt
@@ -4,6 +4,6 @@ val copyOutputDir = taskKey[Unit]("Copies the compiled classes to a root-level d
 
 copyOutputDir := {
 	val cd = (classDirectory in Compile).value
-	val to = baseDirectory.value / "out"
+	val to = baseDirectory.value / "out spaced"
 	IO.copyDirectory(cd, to)
-}
\ No newline at end of file
+}
diff --git a/sbt/src/sbt-test/actions/call/test b/sbt/src/sbt-test/actions/call/test
index 40f86f520..30bf3e1e8 100644
--- a/sbt/src/sbt-test/actions/call/test
+++ b/sbt/src/sbt-test/actions/call/test
@@ -1,11 +1,11 @@
 # compiles a new State => State instance
 > compile
-# puts the classes in a stable location (out/)
+# puts the classes in a stable location (out spaced/ to test escaping)
 > copyOutputDir
 
 # checks that `apply` can load from a specific classpath
-> apply -cp out demo.AddNewCommand
+> 'apply -cp """out spaced/""" demo.AddNewCommand'
 
 # check that AddNewCommand was actually run
 # If it was, it should have registered `newCommand`
-> newCommand
\ No newline at end of file
+> newCommand