diff --git c/lib/App/Prove.pm w/lib/App/Prove.pm
index 344cbb5..7b6eab6 100644
--- c/lib/App/Prove.pm
+++ w/lib/App/Prove.pm
@@ -366,7 +366,7 @@ sub _get_args {
$args{errors} = 1 if $self->parse;
# defined but zero-length exec runs test files as binaries
- $args{exec} = [ split( /\s+/, $self->exec ) ]
+ $args{exec} = [ split_shell( $self->exec ) ]
if ( defined( $self->exec ) );
$args{version} = $self->tapversion if defined( $self->tapversion );
diff --git c/lib/TAP/Parser/Utils.pm w/lib/TAP/Parser/Utils.pm
index db12bf1..76364a0 100644
--- c/lib/TAP/Parser/Utils.pm
+++ w/lib/TAP/Parser/Utils.pm
@@ -44,7 +44,8 @@ which case an empty array will be returned. That makes it possible to
without worrying about whether the environment variable exists.
-This is used to split HARNESS_PERL_ARGS into individual switches.
+This is used to split HARNESS_PERL_ARGS into individual switches and
+to handle prove's C<--exec> option.
