diff --git a/settings.c b/settings.c
index 126cd15..7d4066d 100644
--- a/settings.c
+++ b/settings.c
@@ -12,6 +12,7 @@
 #include "option_parser.h"
 #include "settings.h"
 #include "config.h"
+#include "utils.h"
 
 settings_t settings;
 
@@ -174,7 +175,7 @@ void load_settings(char *cmdline_config_path)
         settings.dmenu =
             option_get_string("global", "dmenu", "-dmenu", dmenu,
                               "path to dmenu");
-        settings.dmenu_cmd = g_strsplit(dmenu, " ", 0);
+        settings.dmenu_cmd = string_to_argv(settings.dmenu);
 
         settings.browser =
             option_get_string("global", "browser", "-browser", browser,
diff --git a/utils.c b/utils.c
index 2df96eb..d0bbe75 100644
--- a/utils.c
+++ b/utils.c
@@ -68,6 +68,24 @@ char *string_append(char *a, const char *b, const char *sep)
 
 }
 
+char **string_to_argv(const char *s)
+{
+        char *str = strdup(s);
+        char **argv = NULL;
+        char *p = strtok (str, " ");
+        int n_spaces = 0;
+
+        while (p) {
+                argv = realloc (argv, sizeof (char*) * ++n_spaces);
+                argv[n_spaces-1] = p;
+                p = strtok (NULL, " ");
+        }
+        argv = realloc (argv, sizeof (char*) * (n_spaces+1));
+        argv[n_spaces] = NULL;
+
+        return argv;
+}
+
 int digit_count(int i)
 {
         i = ABS(i);
diff --git a/utils.h b/utils.h
index 7a87b19..9617301 100644
--- a/utils.h
+++ b/utils.h
@@ -15,6 +15,8 @@ char *string_replace(const char *needle, const char *replacement,
 
 char *string_append(char *a, const char *b, const char *sep);
 
+char **string_to_argv(const char *s);
+
 /* exit with an error message */
 void die(char *msg, int exit_value);