diff --git a/lib/earthquake/commands.rb b/lib/earthquake/commands.rb
index 931a90d..3e38efd 100644
--- a/lib/earthquake/commands.rb
+++ b/lib/earthquake/commands.rb
@@ -200,17 +200,18 @@
 
   command :search do |m|
     search_options = config[:search_options] ? config[:search_options].dup : {}
+    words = m[1].shellsplit.map{|x|
+      case x
+      when /^from:(.+)/, /^to:(.+)/
+        $1
+      when /^-/, "AND", "OR"
+      else
+        x
+      end
+    }.compact
     puts_items twitter.search(m[1], search_options)["results"].each { |s|
       s["user"] = {"screen_name" => s["from_user"]}
       s["_disable_cache"] = true
-      words = m[1].split(/\s+/).reject{|x| x[0] =~ /^-|^(OR|AND)$/ }.map{|x|
-        case x
-        when /^from:(.+)/, /^to:(.+)/
-          $1
-        else
-          x
-        end
-      }
       s["_highlights"] = words
     }
   end