1 files changed, 4 insertions, 1 deletions

diff --git a/lisp/eshell/esh-arg.el b/lisp/eshell/esh-arg.el
index 77db1bfc100..0b68bd69a0a 100644
--- a/lisp/eshell/esh-arg.el
+++ b/lisp/eshell/esh-arg.el
@@ -52,7 +52,10 @@ yield the values intended."
                  (looking-at eshell-number-regexp)
                  (eshell-arg-delimiter (match-end 0)))
         (goto-char (match-end 0))
-        (string-to-number (match-string 0)))))
+        (let ((str (match-string 0)))
+          (if (> (length str) 0)
+              (add-text-properties 0 1 '(number t) str))
+          str))))
 
    ;; parse any non-special characters, based on the current context
    (function