diff --git a/source/Interpreter/OptionValueFileSpec.cpp b/source/Interpreter/OptionValueFileSpec.cpp
index cb1d00c..96bc0e0 100644
--- a/source/Interpreter/OptionValueFileSpec.cpp
+++ b/source/Interpreter/OptionValueFileSpec.cpp
@@ -94,8 +94,17 @@
     case eVarSetOperationAssign:
         if (value_cstr && value_cstr[0])
         {
-            m_value_was_set = true;
-            m_current_value.SetFile(value_cstr, value_cstr[0] == '~');
+            Args args(value_cstr);
+            if (args.GetArgumentCount() == 1)
+            {
+                const char *path = args.GetArgumentAtIndex(0);
+                m_value_was_set = true;
+                m_current_value.SetFile(path, true);
+            }
+            else
+            {
+                error.SetErrorString("please supply a single path argument for this file or quote the path if it contains spaces");
+            }
         }
         else
         {