diff --git a/src/basic/strv.h b/src/basic/strv.h
index 62950588764..b9563e8692f 100644
--- a/src/basic/strv.h
+++ b/src/basic/strv.h
@@ -77,7 +77,7 @@ int strv_split_full(char ***t, const char *s, const char *separators, ExtractFla
 static inline char** strv_split(const char *s, const char *separators) {
         char **ret;
 
-        if (strv_split_full(&ret, s, separators, 0) < 0)
+        if (strv_split_full(&ret, s, separators, EXTRACT_RETAIN_ESCAPE) < 0)
                 return NULL;
 
         return ret;
diff --git a/src/test/test-strv.c b/src/test/test-strv.c
index dabb0cd9737..331c277c352 100644
--- a/src/test/test-strv.c
+++ b/src/test/test-strv.c
@@ -317,6 +317,21 @@ TEST(strv_split) {
 
         assert_se(strv_split_full(&l, "\\", NULL, EXTRACT_UNQUOTE | EXTRACT_RELAX | EXTRACT_UNESCAPE_RELAX) == 1);
         assert_se(strv_equal(l, STRV_MAKE("\\")));
+
+        l = strv_free_erase(l);
+
+        assert_se(l = strv_split("\\", NULL));
+        assert_se(strv_equal(l, STRV_MAKE("\\")));
+
+        l = strv_free_erase(l);
+
+        assert_se(l = strv_split("aa\\ bb\\", NULL));
+        assert_se(strv_equal(l, STRV_MAKE("aa\\", "bb\\")));
+
+        l = strv_free_erase(l);
+
+        assert_se(l = strv_split("aa\" bb'", NULL));
+        assert_se(strv_equal(l, STRV_MAKE("aa\"", "bb'")));
 }
 
 TEST(strv_split_empty) {