diff --git a/go.mod b/go.mod
index d533beb..c42d4b1 100644
--- a/go.mod
+++ b/go.mod
@@ -3,6 +3,6 @@ module github.com/xo/inputrc
 go 1.20
 
 require (
-	github.com/google/go-cmp v0.5.9
+	github.com/google/go-cmp v0.6.0
 	golang.org/x/exp v0.0.0-20230425010034-47ecfdc1ba53
 )
diff --git a/go.sum b/go.sum
index 7d7100b..d39c1c2 100644
--- a/go.sum
+++ b/go.sum
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-github.com/google/go-cmp v0.5.9 h1:O2Tfq5qg4qc4AmwVlvv0oLiVAGB7enBSJ2x2DqQFi38=
-github.com/google/go-cmp v0.5.9/go.mod h1:17dUlkBOakJ0+DkrSSNjCkIjxS6bF9zb3elmeNGIjoY=
+github.com/google/go-cmp v0.6.0 h1:ofyhxvXcZhMsU5ulbFiLKl/XBFqE1GSq7atu8tAmTRI=
+github.com/google/go-cmp v0.6.0/go.mod h1:17dUlkBOakJ0+DkrSSNjCkIjxS6bF9zb3elmeNGIjoY=
 golang.org/x/exp v0.0.0-20230425010034-47ecfdc1ba53 h1:5llv2sWeaMSnA3w2kS57ouQQ4pudlXrR0dCgw51QK9o=
 golang.org/x/exp v0.0.0-20230425010034-47ecfdc1ba53/go.mod h1:V1LtkGg67GoY2N1AnLN78QLrzxkLyJw7RJb1gzOOz9w=
diff --git a/parse.go b/parse.go
index 885edc5..ecae2b7 100644
--- a/parse.go
+++ b/parse.go
@@ -103,10 +103,10 @@ func (p *Parser) readNext(r []rune, i, end int) (string, string, token, error) {
 	switch {
 	case r[i] == 's' && grab(r, i+1, end) == 'e' && grab(r, i+2, end) == 't' && unicode.IsSpace(grab(r, i+3, end)):
 		// read set
-		return p.readSymbols(r, i+4, end, tokenSet)
+		return p.readSymbols(r, i+4, end, tokenSet, true)
 	case r[i] == '$':
 		// read construct
-		return p.readSymbols(r, i, end, tokenConstruct)
+		return p.readSymbols(r, i, end, tokenConstruct, false)
 	}
 	// read key seq
 	var seq string
@@ -168,12 +168,21 @@ func (p *Parser) readNext(r []rune, i, end int) (string, string, token, error) {
 }
 
 // readSet reads the next two symbols.
-func (p *Parser) readSymbols(r []rune, i, end int, tok token) (string, string, token, error) {
+func (p *Parser) readSymbols(r []rune, i, end int, tok token, allowStrings bool) (string, string, token, error) {
 	start := findNonSpace(r, i, end)
 	i = findEnd(r, start, end)
 	a := string(r[start:i])
 	start = findNonSpace(r, i, end)
-	i = findEnd(r, start, end)
+	var ok bool
+	if c := grab(r, start, end); allowStrings || c == '"' || c == '\'' {
+		var pos int
+		if pos, ok = findStringEnd(r, start, end); ok {
+			i = pos
+		}
+	}
+	if !allowStrings || !ok {
+		i = findEnd(r, start, end)
+	}
 	return a, string(r[start:i]), tok, nil
 }
 
diff --git a/testdata/spaces.inputrc b/testdata/spaces.inputrc
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..cae93ca
--- /dev/null
+++ b/testdata/spaces.inputrc
@@ -0,0 +1,12 @@
+app: usql
+term: xterm-256
+mode: vi
+####----####
+set editing-mode vi
+set vi-ins-mode-string "\1\e[4 q\2"
+set my-other-string 'a b'
+####----####
+vars:
+  editing-mode: vi
+  my-other-string: 'a b'
+  vi-ins-mode-string: "\1\e[4 q\2"