diff --git a/cli.js b/cli.js
index 5f8bd5d..6a4aad8 100755
--- a/cli.js
+++ b/cli.js
@@ -47,7 +47,7 @@ if (argv.c) {
 }
 
 function validateCmdVariable (param) {
-  if (!param.match(/^\w+=\w+$/)) {
+  if (!param.match(/^\w+=[a-zA-Z0-9"=^!?%@_&\-/:;.]+$/)) {
     console.error('Unexpected argument ' + param + '. Expected variable in format variable=value')
     process.exit(1)
   }