diff --git a/src/main/java/org/semux/gui/dialog/ConsoleDialog.java b/src/main/java/org/semux/gui/dialog/ConsoleDialog.java
index 27c67d835..45fd687c9 100644
--- a/src/main/java/org/semux/gui/dialog/ConsoleDialog.java
+++ b/src/main/java/org/semux/gui/dialog/ConsoleDialog.java
@@ -43,6 +43,7 @@
 import com.fasterxml.jackson.databind.SerializationFeature;
 
 import io.swagger.annotations.ApiOperation;
+import org.semux.util.CommandParser;
 
 public class ConsoleDialog extends JDialog implements ActionListener {
 
@@ -156,8 +157,9 @@ public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e) {
      * @param input
      */
     protected String callApi(String input) {
-        String[] commandArguments = input.split(" ");
-        String command = commandArguments[0];
+        List<String> commandArguments = CommandParser.parseInput(input);
+
+        String command = commandArguments.get(0);
 
         MethodDescriptor md = methods.get(command);
         if (md == null) {
@@ -168,19 +170,19 @@ protected String callApi(String input) {
             Method method = api.getClass().getMethod(command, md.argumentTypes);
             Object[] arguments = new Object[md.argumentTypes.length];
 
-            if (arguments.length < commandArguments.length - 1) {
+            if (arguments.length < commandArguments.size() - 1) {
                 return GuiMessages.get("MethodError", command);
             }
 
-            for (int i = 0; i < commandArguments.length - 1; i++) {
-                String argument = commandArguments[i + 1];
+            for (int i = 0; i < commandArguments.size() - 1; i++) {
+                String argument = commandArguments.get(i + 1);
                 if (md.argumentTypes[i] == Boolean.class) {
                     arguments[i] = Boolean.parseBoolean(argument);
                 } else {
                     if (NULL.equals(argument)) {
                         arguments[i] = null;
                     } else {
-                        arguments[i] = commandArguments[i + 1];
+                        arguments[i] = commandArguments.get(i + 1);
                     }
                 }
             }
diff --git a/src/main/java/org/semux/util/CommandParser.java b/src/main/java/org/semux/util/CommandParser.java
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..4bb5c26e3
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/main/java/org/semux/util/CommandParser.java
@@ -0,0 +1,32 @@
+/**
+ * Copyright (c) 2017-2018 The Semux Developers
+ *
+ * Distributed under the MIT software license, see the accompanying file
+ * LICENSE or https://opensource.org/licenses/mit-license.php
+ */
+package org.semux.util;
+
+import java.util.ArrayList;
+import java.util.List;
+import java.util.regex.Matcher;
+import java.util.regex.Pattern;
+
+public class CommandParser {
+
+    public static List<String> parseInput(String input) {
+        List<String> commandArguments = new ArrayList<>();
+        Pattern ptrn = Pattern.compile("\"[^\"\\\\]*(?:\\\\.[^\"\\\\]*)*\"|\\S+");
+        Matcher matcher = ptrn.matcher(input);
+        while (matcher.find()) {
+            commandArguments.add(sanitize(matcher.group(0)));
+        }
+        return commandArguments;
+    }
+
+    private static String sanitize(String value) {
+        if (value.startsWith("\"") && value.endsWith("\"")) {
+            value = value.substring(1, value.length() - 1);
+        }
+        return value.replace("\\\"", "\"");
+    }
+}
diff --git a/src/test/java/org/semux/gui/dialog/ConsoleDialogTest.java b/src/test/java/org/semux/gui/dialog/ConsoleDialogTest.java
index cd7a30404..bb50ea047 100644
--- a/src/test/java/org/semux/gui/dialog/ConsoleDialogTest.java
+++ b/src/test/java/org/semux/gui/dialog/ConsoleDialogTest.java
@@ -14,6 +14,8 @@
 import java.util.Arrays;
 import java.util.Collections;
 import java.util.List;
+import java.util.regex.Matcher;
+import java.util.regex.Pattern;
 
 import org.assertj.swing.edt.GuiActionRunner;
 import org.assertj.swing.fixture.DialogFixture;
@@ -72,7 +74,7 @@ public void testBasicUse() throws InterruptedException {
         when(blockChain.getBlock(anyLong())).thenReturn(block);
         kernelRule1.getKernel().setBlockchain(blockChain);
 
-        console.textBox("txtInput").enterText("getBlockByNumber 1\n");
+        console.textBox("txtInput").enterText("getBlockByNumber \"1\"\n");
 
         await().until(() -> consoleText.text().contains("transactionsRoot"));
     }
diff --git a/src/test/java/org/semux/util/CommandParserTest.java b/src/test/java/org/semux/util/CommandParserTest.java
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..e173d5af4
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/test/java/org/semux/util/CommandParserTest.java
@@ -0,0 +1,38 @@
+/**
+ * Copyright (c) 2017-2018 The Semux Developers
+ *
+ * Distributed under the MIT software license, see the accompanying file
+ * LICENSE or https://opensource.org/licenses/mit-license.php
+ */
+package org.semux.util;
+
+import org.junit.Assert;
+import org.junit.Test;
+
+import java.util.List;
+
+public class CommandParserTest {
+
+    @Test
+    public void testDelimiting() {
+        String input = "foo and \"bar stuff\" \"stuff \\\" with quotes \\\" \" more \"\"";
+        List<String> parsed = CommandParser.parseInput(input);
+
+        Assert.assertEquals(6, parsed.size());
+        Assert.assertEquals("foo", parsed.get(0));
+        Assert.assertEquals("and", parsed.get(1));
+        Assert.assertEquals("bar stuff", parsed.get(2));
+        Assert.assertEquals("stuff \" with quotes \" ", parsed.get(3));
+        Assert.assertEquals("more", parsed.get(4));
+        Assert.assertEquals("", parsed.get(5));
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    public void testBasic() {
+        String input = "getBlockByNumber 1";
+        List<String> parsed = CommandParser.parseInput(input);
+        Assert.assertEquals(2, parsed.size());
+        Assert.assertEquals("getBlockByNumber", parsed.get(0));
+        Assert.assertEquals("1", parsed.get(1));
+    }
+}