diff --git a/tools/test/bin/onos b/tools/test/bin/onos
index 780a90d..222ab99 100755
--- a/tools/test/bin/onos
+++ b/tools/test/bin/onos
@@ -6,10 +6,11 @@
 function _usage () {
 cat << _EOF_
 usage:
- $(basename $0) [-w] [node]
+ $(basename $0) [-w] [-f] [node]
 
 flags:
 - -w : Waits for ONOS instance to reach run-level 100, i.e. to be fully started.
+- -f : (Affects non-secure client only) - use bash's IFS expansion of positional parameters
 
 options:
 - [node] : the node to attach to
@@ -29,13 +30,18 @@
 . $ONOS_ROOT/tools/test/bin/find-node.sh
 
 [ "$1" = "-w" ] && shift && onos-wait-for-start $1
+[ "$1" = "-f" ] && shift && flat=1
 
 [ -n "$1" ] && OCI=$(find_node $1) && shift
 
 if which client 1>/dev/null 2>&1 && [ -z "$ONOS_USE_SSH" ]; then
     # Use Karaf client only if we can and are allowed to
     unset KARAF_HOME
-    client -h $OCI -u karaf "$@" 2>/dev/null
+    if [ -z "$flat" ]; then
+        client -h $OCI -u karaf "$@" 2>/dev/null
+    else
+        client -h $OCI -u karaf "$*" 2>/dev/null
+    fi
 else
     # Otherwise use raw ssh; strict checking is off for dev environments only
     ssh -p 8101 -o StrictHostKeyChecking=no $OCI "$@"