diff --git a/db_redis.go b/db_redis.go
index da6228e..6af61ea 100644
--- a/db_redis.go
+++ b/db_redis.go
@@ -4,9 +4,10 @@ import (
 	"context"
 	"fmt"
 	"strconv"
-	"strings"
 	"unsafe"
 
+	"yvbolt/lexer"
+
 	"github.com/redis/go-redis/v9"
 	"github.com/ying32/govcl/vcl"
 	"github.com/ying32/govcl/vcl/types"
@@ -173,8 +174,11 @@ func (ld *redisLoadedDatabase) ExecQuery(query string, resultArea *vcl.TListView
 	ctx := context.Background()
 
 	// Need to parse the query into separate string+args fields for the protocol
-	// TODO This needs to better handle quotes, escaping, ...
-	fields := strings.Fields(query)
+	fields, err := lexer.Fields(query)
+	if err != nil {
+		vcl.ShowMessage(fmt.Sprintf("Parsing the query: %v", err))
+		return
+	}
 
 	fields_boxed := box_interface(fields)
 
diff --git a/lexer/lexer.go b/lexer/lexer.go
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..2c310a7
--- /dev/null
+++ b/lexer/lexer.go
@@ -0,0 +1,141 @@
+package lexer
+
+import (
+	"fmt"
+)
+
+func isWhitespace(r byte) bool {
+	return (r == ' ' || r == '\t' || r == '\r' || r == '\n')
+}
+
+// Fields splits a string into separate tokens using something kind of vaguely
+// like how SQL would do it.
+// The result still includes the quote and backslash characters.
+func Fields(input string) ([]string, error) {
+
+	const (
+		StateToplevel           = 0
+		StateWhitespace         = 1
+		StateInDoubleQuote      = 2
+		StateInDoubleQuoteSlash = 3
+		StateInSingleQuote      = 4
+		StateInSingleQuoteSlash = 5
+	)
+
+	var (
+		ret   []string
+		state int = StateToplevel
+		wip   string
+	)
+
+	for pos := 0; pos < len(input); pos++ {
+		c := input[pos]
+
+		switch state {
+
+		case StateToplevel:
+			if isWhitespace(c) {
+				state = StateWhitespace
+				if len(wip) != 0 {
+					ret = append(ret, wip)
+					wip = ""
+				}
+
+			} else if c == '"' {
+				if len(wip) != 0 {
+					return nil, fmt.Errorf(`Unexpected " at char %d`, pos)
+				}
+
+				wip += string(c)
+				state = StateInDoubleQuote
+
+			} else if c == '\'' {
+				if len(wip) != 0 {
+					return nil, fmt.Errorf(`Unexpected ' at char %d`, pos)
+				}
+
+				wip += string(c)
+				state = StateInSingleQuote
+
+			} else if c == '\\' {
+				return nil, fmt.Errorf(`Unexpected \ at char %d`, pos)
+
+			} else {
+				wip += string(c)
+			}
+
+		case StateWhitespace:
+			if isWhitespace(c) {
+				// continue
+			} else {
+				state = StateToplevel
+				pos-- // reparse
+			}
+
+		case StateInDoubleQuote:
+			if c == '"' {
+				wip += string(c)
+				ret = append(ret, wip)
+				wip = ""
+				state = StateToplevel
+
+			} else if c == '\\' {
+				wip += string(c)
+				state = StateInDoubleQuoteSlash
+
+			} else {
+				wip += string(c)
+			}
+
+		case StateInDoubleQuoteSlash:
+			if isWhitespace(c) {
+				return nil, fmt.Errorf(`Unexpected whitespace after \ at char %d`, pos)
+
+			} else {
+				wip += string(c)
+				state = StateInDoubleQuote
+			}
+
+		case StateInSingleQuote:
+			if c == '\'' {
+				wip += string(c)
+				ret = append(ret, wip)
+				wip = ""
+				state = StateToplevel
+
+			} else if c == '\\' {
+				wip += string(c)
+				state = StateInSingleQuoteSlash
+
+			} else {
+				wip += string(c)
+			}
+
+		case StateInSingleQuoteSlash:
+			if isWhitespace(c) {
+				return nil, fmt.Errorf(`Unexpected whitespace after \ at char %d`, pos)
+
+			} else {
+				wip += string(c)
+				state = StateInSingleQuote
+			}
+		}
+
+	}
+
+	// Reached the end of input stream
+	switch state {
+	case StateToplevel:
+		if len(wip) > 0 {
+			ret = append(ret, wip)
+			wip = ""
+		}
+		return ret, nil
+
+	case StateWhitespace:
+		return ret, nil
+
+	default:
+		return nil, fmt.Errorf(`Unexpected end of quoted input`)
+	}
+}
diff --git a/lexer/lexer_test.go b/lexer/lexer_test.go
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..ef79db6
--- /dev/null
+++ b/lexer/lexer_test.go
@@ -0,0 +1,107 @@
+package lexer
+
+import (
+	"reflect"
+	"testing"
+)
+
+func TestLexer(t *testing.T) {
+	type testCase struct {
+		input     string
+		expect    []string
+		expectErr bool
+	}
+
+	cases := []testCase{
+
+		testCase{
+			input:     "foo bar baz",
+			expect:    []string{"foo", "bar", "baz"},
+			expectErr: false,
+		},
+
+		// Quotes
+
+		testCase{
+			input:     `foo "bar" baz`,
+			expect:    []string{"foo", `"bar"`, "baz"},
+			expectErr: false,
+		},
+		testCase{
+			input:     `foo "bar baz" quux`,
+			expect:    []string{"foo", `"bar baz"`, "quux"},
+			expectErr: false,
+		},
+		testCase{
+			input:     `foo 'bar baz' quux`,
+			expect:    []string{"foo", `'bar baz'`, "quux"},
+			expectErr: false,
+		},
+
+		// Escape characters
+
+		testCase{
+			input:     `foo 'bar \n baz' quux`,
+			expect:    []string{"foo", `'bar \n baz'`, "quux"},
+			expectErr: false,
+		},
+		testCase{
+			input:     `foo "bar\"" baz`,
+			expect:    []string{"foo", `"bar\""`, "baz"},
+			expectErr: false,
+		},
+
+		// Collapsing whitespace
+
+		testCase{
+			input:     "   foo    bar   \r\t\n baz\n",
+			expect:    []string{"foo", "bar", "baz"},
+			expectErr: false,
+		},
+
+		// Errors
+
+		testCase{
+			input:     `foo "bar`,
+			expect:    nil,
+			expectErr: true, // mismatched quotes
+		},
+		testCase{
+			input:     `foo 'bar`,
+			expect:    nil,
+			expectErr: true, // mismatched quotes
+		},
+		testCase{
+			input:     `foo \"bar"`,
+			expect:    nil,
+			expectErr: true, // invalid top-level escape
+		},
+		testCase{
+			input:     `foo "bar\ "`,
+			expect:    nil,
+			expectErr: true, // escaping nothing
+		},
+	}
+
+	for _, tc := range cases {
+		out, err := Fields(tc.input)
+
+		if err != nil {
+			if !tc.expectErr {
+				t.Errorf("Test %q got error %v, expected nil", tc.input, err)
+			}
+
+		} else {
+
+			if tc.expectErr {
+				t.Errorf("Test %q got error <nil>, expected error", tc.input)
+				continue
+			}
+
+			if !reflect.DeepEqual(out, tc.expect) {
+				t.Errorf("Test %q got %v, expected %v", tc.input, out, tc.expect)
+			}
+		}
+
+	}
+}