diff --git a/src/bin/bindctl/bindcmd.py b/src/bin/bindctl/bindcmd.py
index 17c02adb73..0271c9cb0d 100644
--- a/src/bin/bindctl/bindcmd.py
+++ b/src/bin/bindctl/bindcmd.py
@@ -363,12 +363,12 @@ class BindCmdInterpreter(Cmd):
                 if type(name) == int:
                     # lump all extraneous arguments together as one big final one
                     # todo: check if last param type is a string?
-                    if (param_count > 2):
-                        while (param_count > len(command_info.params) - 1):
-                            params[param_count - 2] += params[param_count - 1]
-                            del(params[param_count - 1])
-                            param_count = len(params)
-                            cmd.params = params.copy()
+                    while (param_count > 2 and
+                           param_count > len(command_info.params) - 1):
+                        params[param_count - 2] += " " + params[param_count - 1]
+                        del(params[param_count - 1])
+                        param_count = len(params)
+                        cmd.params = params.copy()
 
                     # (-1, help is always in the all_params list)
                     if name >= len(all_params) - 1:
diff --git a/src/bin/bindctl/tests/bindctl_test.py b/src/bin/bindctl/tests/bindctl_test.py
index cef35dc12e..31a6bdaa2e 100644
--- a/src/bin/bindctl/tests/bindctl_test.py
+++ b/src/bin/bindctl/tests/bindctl_test.py
@@ -180,12 +180,10 @@ class TestCmdSyntax(unittest.TestCase):
         self.my_assert_raise(isc.cc.data.DataTypeError, "zone set zone_name ='cn', port='cn'")
         self.no_assert_raise("zone reload_all")
 
-
     def testCmdUnknownModuleSyntaxError(self):
         self.my_assert_raise(CmdUnknownModuleSyntaxError, "zoned d")
         self.my_assert_raise(CmdUnknownModuleSyntaxError, "dd dd  ")
 
-
     def testCmdUnknownCmdSyntaxError(self):
         self.my_assert_raise(CmdUnknownCmdSyntaxError, "zone dd")
 
@@ -198,6 +196,7 @@ class TestCmdSyntax(unittest.TestCase):
     def testCmdUnknownParamSyntaxError(self):
         self.my_assert_raise(CmdUnknownParamSyntaxError, "zone load zone_d='cn'")
         self.my_assert_raise(CmdUnknownParamSyntaxError, "zone reload_all zone_name = 'cn'")
+        self.my_assert_raise(CmdUnknownParamSyntaxError, "zone help a b c")
 
 class TestModuleInfo(unittest.TestCase):