diff --git a/src/it/projects/exec_special-args/invoker.properties b/src/it/projects/exec_special-args/invoker.properties
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..f448afa3
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/it/projects/exec_special-args/invoker.properties
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+invoker.goals.1 = exec:exec
diff --git a/src/it/projects/exec_special-args/pom.xml b/src/it/projects/exec_special-args/pom.xml
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..6ad61956
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/it/projects/exec_special-args/pom.xml
@@ -0,0 +1,74 @@
+<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
+<project xmlns="http://maven.apache.org/POM/4.0.0" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
+  xsi:schemaLocation="http://maven.apache.org/POM/4.0.0 http://maven.apache.org/xsd/maven-4.0.0.xsd">
+  <modelVersion>4.0.0</modelVersion>
+
+  <parent>
+    <groupId>org.codehaus.mojo.exec.it</groupId>
+    <artifactId>parent</artifactId>
+    <version>0.1</version>
+  </parent>
+
+  <artifactId>special-args</artifactId>
+  <version>0.0.1-SNAPSHOT</version>
+
+  <build>
+    <plugins>
+      <plugin>
+        <groupId>org.codehaus.mojo</groupId>
+        <artifactId>exec-maven-plugin</artifactId>
+        <version>@project.version@</version>
+        <configuration>
+          <!-- executable is echo.cmd or echo, depending on OS, see profiles -->
+          <arguments>
+            <argument>-p</argument>
+            <argument>nomodulepath</argument>
+            <argument>-cp</argument>
+            <argument>noclasspath</argument>
+          </arguments>
+        </configuration>
+      </plugin>
+    </plugins>
+  </build>
+  
+  <profiles>
+    <profile>
+      <id>windows</id>
+      <activation>
+        <os>
+         <family>windows</family>        
+        </os>
+      </activation>
+      <build>
+        <plugins>
+          <plugin>
+            <groupId>org.codehaus.mojo</groupId>
+            <artifactId>exec-maven-plugin</artifactId>
+            <configuration>
+              <executable>echo.cmd</executable>
+            </configuration>
+          </plugin>
+        </plugins>
+      </build>
+    </profile>
+    <profile>
+      <id>non-indows</id>
+      <activation>
+        <os>
+         <family>!windows</family>        
+        </os>
+      </activation>
+      <build>
+        <plugins>
+          <plugin>
+            <groupId>org.codehaus.mojo</groupId>
+            <artifactId>exec-maven-plugin</artifactId>
+            <configuration>
+              <executable>echo</executable>
+            </configuration>
+          </plugin>
+        </plugins>
+      </build>
+    </profile>
+  </profiles>
+</project>
diff --git a/src/main/java/org/codehaus/mojo/exec/ExecMojo.java b/src/main/java/org/codehaus/mojo/exec/ExecMojo.java
index ead705a5..557392e6 100644
--- a/src/main/java/org/codehaus/mojo/exec/ExecMojo.java
+++ b/src/main/java/org/codehaus/mojo/exec/ExecMojo.java
@@ -470,57 +470,70 @@ else if ( args[i].contains( CLASSPATH_TOKEN ) )
     private void handleArguments( List<String> commandArguments )
         throws MojoExecutionException, IOException
     {
+        String specialArg = null;
+        
         for ( int i = 0; i < arguments.size(); i++ )
         {
             Object argument = arguments.get( i );
-            String arg;
-            if ( argument instanceof String && isLongClassPathArgument( (String) argument ) )
-            {
-                // it is assumed that starting from -cp or -classpath the arguments
-                // are: -classpath/-cp %classpath mainClass
-                // the arguments are replaced with: -jar $TMP/maven-exec.jar
-                // NOTE: the jar will contain the classpath and the main class
-                commandArguments.add( "-jar" );
-                File tmpFile = createJar( computePath( (Classpath) arguments.get( i + 1 ) ),
-                                          (String) arguments.get( i + 2 ) );
-                commandArguments.add( tmpFile.getAbsolutePath() );
-                i += 2;
-            }
-            else if ( argument instanceof String && isLongModulePathArgument( (String) argument ) )
-            {
-                String filePath = new File( buildDirectory, "modulepath" ).getAbsolutePath();
 
-                commandArguments.add( '@' + filePath );
+            if ( specialArg != null )
+            {
+                if ( isLongClassPathArgument( specialArg ) && argument instanceof Classpath )
+                {
+                    // it is assumed that starting from -cp or -classpath the arguments
+                    // are: -classpath/-cp %classpath mainClass
+                    // the arguments are replaced with: -jar $TMP/maven-exec.jar
+                    // NOTE: the jar will contain the classpath and the main class
+                    commandArguments.add( "-jar" );
+
+                    File tmpFile = createJar( computePath( (Classpath) argument ),
+                                              (String) arguments.get( ++i ) );
+                    commandArguments.add( tmpFile.getAbsolutePath() );
+                }
+                else if ( isLongModulePathArgument( specialArg ) && argument instanceof Modulepath )
+                {
+                    String filePath = new File( buildDirectory, "modulepath" ).getAbsolutePath();
 
-                StringBuilder modulePath = new StringBuilder();
-                modulePath.append( '"' );
+                    StringBuilder modulePath = new StringBuilder();
+                    modulePath.append( '"' );
 
-                for ( Iterator<String> it = computePath( (Modulepath) arguments.get( ++i ) ).iterator(); it.hasNext(); )
-                {
-                    modulePath.append( it.next().replace( "\\", "\\\\" ) );
-                    if ( it.hasNext() )
+                    for ( Iterator<String> it = computePath( (Modulepath) argument ).iterator(); it.hasNext(); )
                     {
-                        modulePath.append( File.pathSeparatorChar );
+                        modulePath.append( it.next().replace( "\\", "\\\\" ) );
+                        if ( it.hasNext() )
+                        {
+                            modulePath.append( File.pathSeparatorChar );
+                        }
                     }
+
+                    modulePath.append( '"' );
+
+                    createArgFile( filePath, Arrays.asList( "-p", modulePath.toString() ) );
+                    commandArguments.add( '@' + filePath );
+                }
+                else
+                {
+                    commandArguments.add( specialArg );
                 }
 
-                modulePath.append( '"' );
+                specialArg = null;
 
-                createArgFile( filePath, Arrays.asList( "-p", modulePath.toString() ) );
+                continue;
             }
-            else if ( argument instanceof Classpath )
+
+            if ( argument instanceof Classpath )
             {
                 Classpath specifiedClasspath = (Classpath) argument;
-
-                arg = computeClasspathString( specifiedClasspath );
-                commandArguments.add( arg );
+                commandArguments.add( computeClasspathString( specifiedClasspath ) );
             }
             else if ( argument instanceof Modulepath )
             {
                 Modulepath specifiedModulepath = (Modulepath) argument;
-
-                arg = computeClasspathString( specifiedModulepath );
-                commandArguments.add( arg );
+                commandArguments.add( computeClasspathString( specifiedModulepath ) );
+            }
+            else if ( isLongModulePathArgument( specialArg ) || isLongClassPathArgument( specialArg ) )
+            {
+                specialArg = (String) argument;
             }
             else
             {