diff --git a/ldm/invoke/args.py b/ldm/invoke/args.py
index dca3e49780..2a2ee24c48 100644
--- a/ldm/invoke/args.py
+++ b/ldm/invoke/args.py
@@ -172,6 +172,7 @@ class Args(object):
         command = cmd_string.replace("'", "\\'")
         try:
             elements = shlex.split(command)
+            elements = [x.replace("\\'","'") for x in elements]
         except ValueError:
             import sys, traceback
             print(traceback.format_exc(), file=sys.stderr)
@@ -935,7 +936,7 @@ def metadata_loads(metadata) -> list:
         for image in images:
             # repack the prompt and variations
             if 'prompt' in image:
-                image['prompt']     = ','.join([':'.join([x['prompt'],   str(x['weight'])]) for x in image['prompt']])
+                image['prompt']     = repack_prompt(image['prompt'])
             if 'variations' in image:
                 image['variations'] = ','.join([':'.join([str(x['seed']),str(x['weight'])]) for x in image['variations']])
             # fix a bit of semantic drift here
@@ -943,12 +944,19 @@ def metadata_loads(metadata) -> list:
             opt = Args()
             opt._cmd_switches = Namespace(**image)
             results.append(opt)
-    except KeyError as e:
+    except Exception as e:
         import sys, traceback
-        print('>> badly-formatted metadata',file=sys.stderr)
+        print('>> could not read metadata',file=sys.stderr)
         print(traceback.format_exc(), file=sys.stderr)
     return results
 
+def repack_prompt(prompt_list:list)->str:
+    # in the common case of no weighting syntax, just return the prompt as is
+    if len(prompt_list) > 1:
+        return ','.join([':'.join([x['prompt'], str(x['weight'])]) for x in prompt_list])
+    else:
+        return prompt_list[0]['prompt']
+
 # image can either be a file path on disk or a base64-encoded
 # representation of the file's contents
 def calculate_init_img_hash(image_string):
diff --git a/scripts/invoke.py b/scripts/invoke.py
index 2247f64219..b2f4e35518 100644
--- a/scripts/invoke.py
+++ b/scripts/invoke.py
@@ -800,19 +800,33 @@ def retrieve_dream_command(opt,command,completer):
     will retrieve and format the dream command used to generate the image,
     and pop it into the readline buffer (linux, Mac), or print out a comment
     for cut-and-paste (windows)
+
     Given a wildcard path to a folder with image png files, 
     will retrieve and format the dream command used to generate the images,
     and save them to a file commands.txt for further processing
     '''
     if len(command) == 0:
         return
+
     tokens = command.split()
     if len(tokens) > 1:
-        outfilepath = tokens[1]
-    else:
-        outfilepath = "commands.txt"
-        
+        return write_commands(opt,tokens)
+
+    try:
+        cmd = dream_cmd_from_png(tokens[0])
+    except OSError:
+        print(f'## {path}: file could not be read')
+    except (KeyError, AttributeError, IndexError):
+        print(f'## {path}: file has no metadata')
+    except:
+        print(f'## {path}: file could not be processed')
+    if len(cmd)>0:
+        completer.set_line(cmd)
+
+def write_commands(opt, tokens:list):
     file_path = tokens[0]    
+    outfilepath = tokens[1]
+        
     dir,basename = os.path.split(file_path)
     if len(dir) == 0:
         dir = opt.outdir
@@ -827,28 +841,23 @@ def retrieve_dream_command(opt,command,completer):
         return
  
     commands = []
+    cmd = None
     for path in paths:
         try:
             cmd = dream_cmd_from_png(path)
         except OSError:
             print(f'## {path}: file could not be read')
-            continue
         except (KeyError, AttributeError, IndexError):
             print(f'## {path}: file has no metadata')
-            continue
         except:
             print(f'## {path}: file could not be processed')
-            continue
-            
-        commands.append(f'# {path}')
-        commands.append(cmd)
- 
-    with open(outfilepath, 'w', encoding='utf-8') as f:
-        f.write('\n'.join(commands))
-    print(f'>> File {outfilepath} with commands created')
-
-    if len(commands) == 2:
-       completer.set_line(commands[1])
+        if cmd:
+            commands.append(f'# {path}')
+            commands.append(cmd)
+    if len(commands)>0:
+        with open(outfilepath, 'w', encoding='utf-8') as f:
+            f.write('\n'.join(commands))
+        print(f'>> File {outfilepath} with commands created')
 
 ######################################