diff --git a/libtmux/window.py b/libtmux/window.py
index 60115f55c..bc0673c37 100644
--- a/libtmux/window.py
+++ b/libtmux/window.py
@@ -9,6 +9,7 @@
 
 import logging
 import os
+import shlex
 
 from . import exc, formats
 from .common import (
@@ -183,7 +184,10 @@ def show_window_options(self, option=None, g=False):
                 *tmux_args
             ).stdout
 
-        cmd = [tuple(item.split(' ')) for item in cmd]
+        # The shlex.split function splits the args at spaces, while also
+        # retaining quoted sub-strings.
+        #   shlex.split('this is "a test"') => ['this', 'is', 'a test']
+        cmd = [tuple(shlex.split(item)) for item in cmd]
 
         window_options = dict(cmd)
 
@@ -225,7 +229,7 @@ def show_window_option(self, option, g=False):
         if not len(cmd.stdout):
             return None
 
-        option = [item.split(' ') for item in cmd.stdout][0]
+        option = [shlex.split(item) for item in cmd.stdout][0]
 
         if option[1].isdigit():
             option = (option[0], int(option[1]))
diff --git a/tests/test_window.py b/tests/test_window.py
index e9b1ebbef..865331baf 100644
--- a/tests/test_window.py
+++ b/tests/test_window.py
@@ -178,6 +178,10 @@ def test_set_show_window_options(session):
     assert window.show_window_options('main-pane-height') == 40
     assert window.show_window_options()['main-pane-height'] == 40
 
+    if has_gte_version('2.3'):
+        window.set_window_option('pane-border-format', ' #P ')
+        assert window.show_window_options('pane-border-format') == ' #P '
+
 
 def test_empty_window_option_returns_None(session):
     window = session.new_window(window_name='test_window')