diff --git a/deluge/ui/console/main.py b/deluge/ui/console/main.py
index 174d667bd..f6653061e 100644
--- a/deluge/ui/console/main.py
+++ b/deluge/ui/console/main.py
@@ -295,7 +295,12 @@ Please use commands from the command line, eg:\n
         except KeyError:
             self.write("{!error!}Unknown command: %s" % cmd)
             return
-        args = self._commands[cmd].split(line)
+
+        try:
+            args = self._commands[cmd].split(line)
+        except ValueError, e:
+            self.write("{!error!}Error parsing command: %s" % e)
+            return
 
         # Do a little hack here to print 'command --help' properly
         parser._print_help = parser.print_help