diff --git a/client/commands.go b/client/commands.go
index e33ee42..de46aa1 100644
--- a/client/commands.go
+++ b/client/commands.go
@@ -85,25 +85,21 @@ func splitMessage(msg string, splitLen int) (msgs []string) {
 	return append(msgs, msg)
 }
 
-// splitCommand takes a command of the form <commandPrefix arg0, arg1, ...>
-// and returns a list of commands of the same form
-// where the len of each command doesn't exceed splitLen
-func splitCommand(cmdPrefix string, args []string, maxLen int) []string {
-	cmds := make([]string, 0)
+func splitArgs(args []string, maxLen int) []string {
+	res := make([]string, 0)
 
 	i := 0
 	for i < len(args) {
-		currCmd := cmdPrefix + args[i]
+		currArg := args[i]
 		i++
 
-		for i < len(args) && len(currCmd)+len(args[i])+1 < maxLen {
-			currCmd += " " + args[i]
+		for i < len(args) && len(currArg)+len(args[i])+1 < maxLen {
+			currArg += " " + args[i]
 			i++
 		}
-		cmds = append(cmds, currCmd)
-		currCmd = cmdPrefix
+		res = append(res, currArg)
 	}
-	return cmds
+	return res
 }
 
 // Raw sends a raw line to the server, should really only be used for
@@ -324,8 +320,9 @@ func (conn *Conn) Cap(subcommmand string, capabilities ...string) {
 		// make output predictable for testing
 		sort.Strings(capabilities)
 
-		for _, cmd := range splitCommand(CAP+" "+subcommmand+" :", capabilities, defaultSplit) {
-			conn.Raw(cmd)
+		cmdPrefix := CAP + " " + subcommmand + " :"
+		for _, args := range splitArgs(capabilities, defaultSplit-len(cmdPrefix)) {
+			conn.Raw(cmdPrefix + args)
 		}
 	}
 }
diff --git a/client/commands_test.go b/client/commands_test.go
index f23b0ab..25af371 100644
--- a/client/commands_test.go
+++ b/client/commands_test.go
@@ -3,6 +3,7 @@ package client
 import (
 	"reflect"
 	"strconv"
+	"strings"
 	"testing"
 )
 
@@ -214,12 +215,9 @@ func TestSplitCommand(t *testing.T) {
 	}
 
 	for maxLen := 1; maxLen <= defaultSplit; maxLen *= 2 {
-		for _, cmd := range splitCommand("TEST :", args, maxLen) {
-			if len(cmd) > maxLen {
-				line := ParseLine(cmd)
-				if len(line.Args) > 1 { // len(cmd) can exceed maxLen only if cmd includes a single argument.
-					t.Fatalf("maxLen = %d, but len(cmd) = %d", maxLen, len(cmd))
-				}
+		for _, argStr := range splitArgs(args, maxLen) {
+			if len(argStr) > maxLen && len(strings.Split(argStr, " ")) > 1 {
+				t.Errorf("maxLen = %d, but len(cmd) = %d", maxLen, len(argStr))
 			}
 		}
 	}