diff --git i/meson.build w/meson.build
index d6401fb8e30..191a051defb 100644
--- i/meson.build
+++ w/meson.build
@@ -997,13 +997,20 @@ if not perlopt.disabled()
     undesired = run_command(perl_conf_cmd, 'ccdlflags', check: true).stdout().split()
     undesired += run_command(perl_conf_cmd, 'ldflags', check: true).stdout().split()
 
+    ldopts_split = run_command(python, '-c', '''
+import shlex
+import sys
+
+print('\n'.join(shlex.split(sys.argv[1])), end='')
+''',
+                         ldopts, check: true).stdout().split('\n')
+
     perl_ldopts = []
-    foreach ldopt : ldopts.split(' ')
-      if ldopt == '' or ldopt in undesired
+    foreach ldopt : ldopts_split
+      if ldopt in undesired
         continue
       endif
-
-      perl_ldopts += ldopt.strip('"')
+      perl_ldopts += ldopt
     endforeach
 
     message('LDFLAGS recommended by perl: "@0@"'.format(ldopts))