diff --git a/hledger/Hledger/Cli/Options.hs b/hledger/Hledger/Cli/Options.hs
index 63cc14f51..f5d46a388 100644
--- a/hledger/Hledger/Cli/Options.hs
+++ b/hledger/Hledger/Cli/Options.hs
@@ -310,7 +310,7 @@ toCliOpts rawopts = do
                             ,quarterly_ = boolopt "quarterly" rawopts
                             ,yearly_    = boolopt "yearly" rawopts
                             ,format_    = maybestringopt "format" rawopts
-                            ,patterns_  = words'' prefixes $ singleQuoteIfNeeded $ stringopt "args" rawopts
+                            ,patterns_  = listofstringopt "args" rawopts
                             }
              }
 
diff --git a/tests/filter-patterns.test b/tests/filter-patterns.test
index f9b452ece..35f6c73c0 100644
--- a/tests/filter-patterns.test
+++ b/tests/filter-patterns.test
@@ -23,3 +23,15 @@ bin/hledger -f- register desc:'x x'
 2010/03/02 x x                  a                                 1            1
                                 b                                -1            0
 >>>=0
+
+#
+# 3. multiple patterns, spaced and punctuated patterns
+bin/hledger -f- register 'a a' "'b"
+<<<
+2011/9/11
+  a a  1
+  'b
+>>>
+2011/09/11                      a a                               1            1
+                                'b                               -1            0
+>>>=0