diff --git a/compiler/cli/cli-common/src/org/jetbrains/kotlin/cli/common/arguments/preprocessCommandLineArguments.kt b/compiler/cli/cli-common/src/org/jetbrains/kotlin/cli/common/arguments/preprocessCommandLineArguments.kt
index 77bdd1333c8..b763caa1bfe 100644
--- a/compiler/cli/cli-common/src/org/jetbrains/kotlin/cli/common/arguments/preprocessCommandLineArguments.kt
+++ b/compiler/cli/cli-common/src/org/jetbrains/kotlin/cli/common/arguments/preprocessCommandLineArguments.kt
@@ -62,7 +62,10 @@ private fun Reader.parseNextArgument(): String? {
         if (r.isWhitespace()) break
 
         when (r) {
-            DOUBLE_QUOTE, SINGLE_QUOTE -> consumeRestOfEscapedSequence(sb, r)
+            DOUBLE_QUOTE, SINGLE_QUOTE -> {
+                consumeRestOfEscapedSequence(sb, r)
+                return sb.toString()
+            }
             BACKSLASH -> nextChar()?.apply(sb::append)
             else -> sb.append(r)
         }
diff --git a/compiler/testData/cli/jvm/argfileWithEmptyArgument.argfile b/compiler/testData/cli/jvm/argfileWithEmptyArgument.argfile
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..515d9a51c63
--- /dev/null
+++ b/compiler/testData/cli/jvm/argfileWithEmptyArgument.argfile
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+""
+-include-runtime
+-progressive
diff --git a/compiler/testData/cli/jvm/argfileWithEmptyArgument.args b/compiler/testData/cli/jvm/argfileWithEmptyArgument.args
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..806ee3fd365
--- /dev/null
+++ b/compiler/testData/cli/jvm/argfileWithEmptyArgument.args
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+@$TESTDATA_DIR$/argfileWithEmptyArgument.argfile
diff --git a/compiler/testData/cli/jvm/argfileWithEmptyArgument.out b/compiler/testData/cli/jvm/argfileWithEmptyArgument.out
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..8ff8dfc0cbd
--- /dev/null
+++ b/compiler/testData/cli/jvm/argfileWithEmptyArgument.out
@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+error: source file or directory not found:
+COMPILATION_ERROR
diff --git a/compiler/tests/org/jetbrains/kotlin/cli/CliTestGenerated.java b/compiler/tests/org/jetbrains/kotlin/cli/CliTestGenerated.java
index 52e9ddb1f1d..0860ad33261 100644
--- a/compiler/tests/org/jetbrains/kotlin/cli/CliTestGenerated.java
+++ b/compiler/tests/org/jetbrains/kotlin/cli/CliTestGenerated.java
@@ -66,6 +66,11 @@ public class CliTestGenerated extends AbstractCliTest {
             runTest("compiler/testData/cli/jvm/apiVersionLessThanLanguageUsingArgfile.args");
         }
 
+        @TestMetadata("argfileWithEmptyArgument.args")
+        public void testArgfileWithEmptyArgument() throws Exception {
+            runTest("compiler/testData/cli/jvm/argfileWithEmptyArgument.args");
+        }
+
         @TestMetadata("argfileWithEscaping.args")
         public void testArgfileWithEscaping() throws Exception {
             runTest("compiler/testData/cli/jvm/argfileWithEscaping.args");