diff --git a/src/shared/shell.c b/src/shared/shell.c
index cbb9b8b..0d82bc2 100644
--- a/src/shared/shell.c
+++ b/src/shared/shell.c
@@ -678,7 +678,6 @@ int bt_shell_release_prompt(const char *input)
 
 static void rl_handler(char *input)
 {
-	wordexp_t w;
 	HIST_ENTRY *last;
 
 	if (!input) {
@@ -703,16 +702,8 @@ static void rl_handler(char *input)
 	if (data.monitor)
 		bt_log_printf(0xffff, data.name, LOG_INFO, "%s", input);
 
-	if (wordexp(input, &w, WRDE_NOCMD))
-		goto done;
-
-	if (w.we_wordc == 0) {
-		wordfree(&w);
-		goto done;
-	}
+	bt_shell_exec(input);
 
-	shell_exec(w.we_wordc, w.we_wordv);
-	wordfree(&w);
 done:
 	free(input);
 }
@@ -1178,6 +1169,29 @@ int bt_shell_run(void)
 	return status;
 }
 
+int bt_shell_exec(const char *input)
+{
+	wordexp_t w;
+	int err;
+
+	if (!input)
+		return 0;
+
+	if (wordexp(input, &w, WRDE_NOCMD))
+		return -ENOEXEC;
+
+	if (w.we_wordc == 0) {
+		wordfree(&w);
+		return -ENOEXEC;
+	}
+
+	err = shell_exec(w.we_wordc, w.we_wordv);
+
+	wordfree(&w);
+
+	return err;
+}
+
 void bt_shell_cleanup(void)
 {
 	bt_shell_release_prompt("");
diff --git a/src/shared/shell.h b/src/shared/shell.h
index cc4f822..8baa285 100644
--- a/src/shared/shell.h
+++ b/src/shared/shell.h
@@ -55,6 +55,7 @@ struct bt_shell_opt {
 void bt_shell_init(int argc, char **argv, const struct bt_shell_opt *opt);
 
 int bt_shell_run(void);
+int bt_shell_exec(const char *input);
 
 void bt_shell_quit(int status);
 void bt_shell_noninteractive_quit(int status);