diff --git a/core/org.eclipse.cdt.core/src/org/eclipse/cdt/core/build/CBuildConfiguration.java b/core/org.eclipse.cdt.core/src/org/eclipse/cdt/core/build/CBuildConfiguration.java
index 0983bdb8346..d9496b315b2 100644
--- a/core/org.eclipse.cdt.core/src/org/eclipse/cdt/core/build/CBuildConfiguration.java
+++ b/core/org.eclipse.cdt.core/src/org/eclipse/cdt/core/build/CBuildConfiguration.java
@@ -23,12 +23,13 @@ import java.nio.file.InvalidPathException;
 import java.nio.file.Path;
 import java.nio.file.Paths;
 import java.util.ArrayList;
-import java.util.Arrays;
 import java.util.HashMap;
 import java.util.Iterator;
 import java.util.List;
 import java.util.Map;
 import java.util.Map.Entry;
+import java.util.regex.Matcher;
+import java.util.regex.Pattern;
 
 import org.eclipse.cdt.core.CCorePlugin;
 import org.eclipse.cdt.core.IBinaryParser;
@@ -747,13 +748,66 @@ public abstract class CBuildConfiguration extends PlatformObject
 		}
 	}
 
+	/**
+	 * Parse a string containing compile options into individual argument strings.
+	 * 
+	 * @param argString - String to parse
+	 * @return List of arg Strings
+	 */
+	private List<String> stripArgs(String argString) {
+		Pattern p0 = Pattern.compile("('(.*?)').*"); //$NON-NLS-1$
+		Pattern p1 = Pattern.compile("([\\-](\\w|[\\-])+[=]\\\".*?\\\").*"); //$NON-NLS-1$
+		Pattern p2 = Pattern.compile("([\\-](\\w|[\\-])+[=]'.*?').*"); //$NON-NLS-1$
+		Pattern p3 = Pattern.compile("([\\-](\\w|[\\-])+[=][^\\s]+).*"); //$NON-NLS-1$
+		Pattern p4 = Pattern.compile("([^\\s]+).*"); //$NON-NLS-1$
+		boolean finished = false;
+		List<String> args = new ArrayList<>();
+		while (!finished) {
+			Matcher m0 = p0.matcher(argString);
+			if (m0.matches()) {
+				argString = argString.replaceFirst("'.*?'", "").trim(); //$NON-NLS-1$ //$NON-NLS-2$
+				String s = m0.group(2).trim(); // strip single quotes
+				args.add(s);
+			} else {
+				Matcher m1 = p1.matcher(argString);
+				if (m1.matches()) {
+					argString = argString.replaceFirst("[\\-](\\w|[\\-])+[=]\\\".*?\\\"","").trim(); //$NON-NLS-1$ //$NON-NLS-2$
+					String s = m1.group(1).trim();
+					args.add(s);
+				} else {
+					Matcher m2 = p2.matcher(argString);
+					if (m2.matches()) {
+						argString = argString.replaceFirst("[\\-](\\w|[\\-])+[=]'.*?'", "").trim(); //$NON-NLS-1$ //$NON-NLS-2$
+						String s = m2.group(1).trim();
+						args.add(s);
+					} else {
+						Matcher m3 = p3.matcher(argString);
+						if (m3.matches()) {
+							argString = argString.replaceFirst("[\\-](\\w|[\\-])+[=][^\\s]+", "").trim(); //$NON-NLS-1$ //$NON-NLS-2$
+							args.add(m3.group(1).trim());
+						} else {
+							Matcher m4 = p4.matcher(argString);
+							if (m4.matches()) {
+								argString = argString.replaceFirst("[^\\s]+", "").trim(); //$NON-NLS-1$ //$NON-NLS-2$
+								args.add(m4.group(1).trim());
+							} else {
+								finished = true;
+							}
+						}
+					}
+				}
+			}
+		}
+		return args;
+	}
+
 	private boolean infoChanged = false;
 
 	@Override
 	public boolean processLine(String line) {
-		// TODO smarter line parsing to deal with quoted arguments
-		List<String> command = Arrays.asList(line.split("\\s+")); //$NON-NLS-1$
-
+		// Split line into args, taking into account quotes
+		List<String> command = stripArgs(line);
+		
 		// Make sure it's a compile command
 		String[] compileCommands = toolChain.getCompileCommands();
 		boolean found = false;
@@ -773,6 +827,7 @@ public abstract class CBuildConfiguration extends PlatformObject
 				}
 			}
 
+
 			if (Platform.getOS().equals(Platform.OS_WIN32) && !arg.endsWith(".exe")) { //$NON-NLS-1$
 				// Try with exe
 				arg = arg + ".exe"; //$NON-NLS-1$