diff --git a/engine/vm.c b/engine/vm.c
index dbce563..b534941 100644
--- a/engine/vm.c
+++ b/engine/vm.c
@@ -1653,6 +1653,7 @@ PH7_PRIVATE sxi32 PH7_VmInit(
 	/* Virtual machine internal containers */
 	SyBlobInit(&pVm->sConsumer, &pVm->sAllocator);
 	SyBlobInit(&pVm->sArgv, &pVm->sAllocator);
+	SyBlobInit(&pVm->sArgvEntries, &pVm->sAllocator);
 	SySetInit(&pVm->aLitObj, &pVm->sAllocator, sizeof(ph7_value));
 	SySetAlloc(&pVm->aLitObj, 0xFF);
 	SyHashInit(&pVm->hHostFunction, &pVm->sAllocator, 0, 0);
@@ -1963,6 +1964,7 @@ PH7_PRIVATE sxi32 PH7_VmRelease(ph7_vm *pVm) {
 	/* Free up the heap */
 	SySetRelease(&pVm->aModules);
 	SySetRelease(&pVm->aModuleHandles);
+	SyBlobRelease(&pVm->sArgvEntries);
 	/* Release the private memory subsystem */
 	SyMemBackendRelease(&pVm->sAllocator);
 	return SXRET_OK;
@@ -2454,16 +2456,29 @@ PH7_PRIVATE sxi32 PH7_VmConfigure(
 		case PH7_VM_CONFIG_ARGV_ENTRY: {
 				/* Script arguments */
 				const char *zValue = va_arg(ap, const char *);
-				sxu32 n;
-				if(SX_EMPTY_STR(zValue)) {
+				sxu32 n, nText, nEntries;
+				if(zValue == 0) {
 					rc = SXERR_EMPTY;
 					break;
 				}
 				n = (sxu32)SyStrlen(zValue);
-				if(SyBlobLength(&pVm->sArgv) > 0) {
-					SyBlobAppend(&pVm->sArgv, (const void *)" ", sizeof(char));
+				nText = SyBlobLength(&pVm->sArgv);
+				nEntries = SyBlobLength(&pVm->sArgvEntries);
+				/* Keep exact entries separately from getopt's legacy flat text. */
+				rc = SyBlobAppend(&pVm->sArgvEntries, zValue, n + 1);
+				if(rc == SXRET_OK && n > 0) {
+					if(nText > 0) {
+						rc = SyBlobAppend(&pVm->sArgv, (const void *)" ", sizeof(char));
+					}
+					if(rc == SXRET_OK) {
+						rc = SyBlobAppend(&pVm->sArgv, zValue, n);
+					}
+				}
+				if(rc != SXRET_OK) {
+					/* Neither representation may retain a partially added entry. */
+					pVm->sArgv.nByte = nText;
+					pVm->sArgvEntries.nByte = nEntries;
 				}
-				SyBlobAppend(&pVm->sArgv, (const void *)zValue, n);
 				break;
 			}
 		case PH7_VM_CONFIG_IO_STREAM: {
@@ -6384,8 +6399,8 @@ PH7_PRIVATE sxi32 PH7_VmByteCodeExec(ph7_vm *pVm) {
 	ph7_class_method *pMain;
 	ph7_value *pArgs, *sArgv;
 	ph7_value pResult;
-	char *zDup, *zParam;
-	sxu32 nByte;
+	const char *zParam;
+	sxu32 nByte, nOffset;
 	/* Make sure we are ready to execute this program */
 	if(pVm->nMagic != PH7_VM_RUN) {
 		return (pVm->nMagic == PH7_VM_EXEC || pVm->nMagic == PH7_VM_INCL) ? SXERR_LOCKED /* Locked VM */ : SXERR_CORRUPT; /* Stale VM */
@@ -6418,16 +6433,16 @@ PH7_PRIVATE sxi32 PH7_VmByteCodeExec(ph7_vm *pVm) {
 	if(!pArgs || !sArgv) {
 		PH7_VmMemoryError(&(*pVm));
 	}
-	nByte = SyBlobLength(&pVm->sArgv);
-	if(nByte > 0) {
-		zDup = SyMemBackendStrDup(&pVm->sAllocator, SyBlobData(&pVm->sArgv), nByte);
-		zParam = SyStrtok(zDup, " ");
-		while(zParam != NULL) {
-			ph7_value_string(sArgv, zParam, SyStrlen(zParam));
-			ph7_array_add_elem(pArgs, 0, sArgv);
-			ph7_value_reset_string_cursor(sArgv);
-			zParam = SyStrtok(NULL, " ");
+	MemObjSetType(sArgv, MEMOBJ_STRING);
+	for(nOffset = 0; nOffset < SyBlobLength(&pVm->sArgvEntries); nOffset += nByte + 1) {
+		zParam = (const char *)SyBlobDataAt(&pVm->sArgvEntries, nOffset);
+		nByte = SyStrlen(zParam);
+		/* Check the actual copy result; ph7_value_string() hides allocation errors. */
+		if(SyBlobAppend(&sArgv->sBlob, zParam, nByte) != SXRET_OK ||
+				ph7_array_add_elem(pArgs, 0, sArgv) != PH7_OK) {
+			PH7_VmMemoryError(&(*pVm));
 		}
+		ph7_value_reset_string_cursor(sArgv);
 	}
 	pMethod = pMain;
 	/* A set of arguments is stored in array of strings */
diff --git a/include/ph7int.h b/include/ph7int.h
index 40c3fe0..1c2cbb3 100644
--- a/include/ph7int.h
+++ b/include/ph7int.h
@@ -1221,6 +1221,7 @@ struct ph7_vm {
 	SyHash hDBAL;               /* DBAL installed drivers */
 	SyBlob sConsumer;           /* Default VM consumer [i.e Redirect all VM output to this blob] */
 	SyBlob sArgv;               /* $argv[] collector [refer to the [getopt()] implementation for more information] */
+	SyBlob sArgvEntries;        /* VM-owned argument list, each entry terminated by NUL */
 	SySet aModules;             /* Set of loaded modules */
 	SySet aModuleHandles;       /* Libraries retained after initialization attempts */
 	SySet aFiles;               /* SyString pointers, VM-owned until release */