diff --git a/man/tmpfiles.d.xml b/man/tmpfiles.d.xml
index 49ce8375a4..4adbf6bb0a 100644
--- a/man/tmpfiles.d.xml
+++ b/man/tmpfiles.d.xml
@@ -145,14 +145,17 @@ A+    /path-or-glob/to/append/acls/recursively -    -    -     -           POSIX
   <refsect1>
     <title>Configuration File Format</title>
 
-    <para>The configuration format is one line per path containing
-    type, path, mode, ownership, age, and argument fields:</para>
+    <para>The configuration format is one line per path, containing type, path, mode, ownership, age, and
+    argument fields. The lines are separated by newlines, the fields by whitespace:</para>
 
-    <programlisting>#Type Path        Mode User Group Age Argument
+    <programlisting>#Type Path        Mode User Group Age Argument…
 d     /run/user   0755 root root  10d -
 L     /tmp/foobar -    -    -     -   /dev/null</programlisting>
 
-    <para>Fields may be enclosed within quotes and contain C-style escapes.</para>
+    <para>Fields may contain C-style escapes. With the exception of the seventh field (the "argument") all
+    fields may be enclosed in quotes. Note that any whitespace found in the line after the beginning of the
+    argument field will be considered part of the argument field. To begin the argument field with a
+    whitespace character, use C-style escapes (e.g. <literal>\x20</literal>).</para>
 
     <refsect2>
       <title>Type</title>
diff --git a/src/basic/extract-word.c b/src/basic/extract-word.c
index 76b3fe12e3..4104dac9a7 100644
--- a/src/basic/extract-word.c
+++ b/src/basic/extract-word.c
@@ -20,11 +20,10 @@
 int extract_first_word(const char **p, char **ret, const char *separators, ExtractFlags flags) {
         _cleanup_free_ char *s = NULL;
         size_t allocated = 0, sz = 0;
-        char c;
-        int r;
-
         char quote = 0;                 /* 0 or ' or " */
         bool backslash = false;         /* whether we've just seen a backslash */
+        char c;
+        int r;
 
         assert(p);
         assert(ret);
@@ -71,7 +70,7 @@ int extract_first_word(const char **p, char **ret, const char *separators, Extra
 
                         if (c == 0) {
                                 if ((flags & EXTRACT_CUNESCAPE_RELAX) &&
-                                    (!quote || flags & EXTRACT_RELAX)) {
+                                    (quote == 0 || flags & EXTRACT_RELAX)) {
                                         /* If we find an unquoted trailing backslash and we're in
                                          * EXTRACT_CUNESCAPE_RELAX mode, keep it verbatim in the
                                          * output.
@@ -116,7 +115,7 @@ int extract_first_word(const char **p, char **ret, const char *separators, Extra
 
                         backslash = false;
 
-                } else if (quote) {     /* inside either single or double quotes */
+                } else if (quote != 0) {     /* inside either single or double quotes */
                         for (;; (*p)++, c = **p) {
                                 if (c == 0) {
                                         if (flags & EXTRACT_RELAX)
diff --git a/src/tmpfiles/tmpfiles.c b/src/tmpfiles/tmpfiles.c
index 4ebdaddb5b..955cf00ce4 100644
--- a/src/tmpfiles/tmpfiles.c
+++ b/src/tmpfiles/tmpfiles.c
@@ -60,6 +60,7 @@
 #include "string-table.h"
 #include "string-util.h"
 #include "strv.h"
+#include "terminal-util.h"
 #include "umask-util.h"
 #include "user-util.h"
 
@@ -2995,8 +2996,8 @@ static int help(void) {
         if (r < 0)
                 return log_oom();
 
-        printf("%s [OPTIONS...] [CONFIGURATION FILE...]\n\n"
-               "Creates, deletes and cleans up volatile and temporary files and directories.\n\n"
+        printf("%s [OPTIONS...] [CONFIGURATION FILE...]\n"
+               "\n%sCreates, deletes and cleans up volatile and temporary files and directories.%s\n\n"
                "  -h --help                 Show this help\n"
                "     --user                 Execute user configuration\n"
                "     --version              Show package version\n"
@@ -3014,6 +3015,7 @@ static int help(void) {
                "     --no-pager             Do not pipe output into a pager\n"
                "\nSee the %s for details.\n"
                , program_invocation_short_name
+               , ansi_highlight(), ansi_normal()
                , link
         );
 
diff --git a/test/units/testsuite-22.10.sh b/test/units/testsuite-22.10.sh
new file mode 100755
index 0000000000..5ec297fbf8
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/units/testsuite-22.10.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,29 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env bash
+
+set -e
+set -x
+set -o pipefail
+
+systemd-tmpfiles --create - <<EOF
+f /tmp/xxx1 0644 - - - foo
+f /tmp/xxx2 0644 - - - foo bar
+f /tmp/xxx3 0644 - - - foo\x20bar
+f /tmp/xxx4 0644 - - - \x20foobar
+f /tmp/xxx5 0644 - - - foobar\x20
+f /tmp/xxx6 0644 - - -  foo bar
+f /tmp/xxx7 0644 - - -  foo bar \n
+f /tmp/xxx8 0644 - - - " foo bar "
+f /tmp/xxx9 0644 - - - ' foo bar '
+EOF
+
+echo -n "foo" | cmp /tmp/xxx1 -
+echo -n "foo bar" | cmp /tmp/xxx2 -
+echo -n "foo bar" | cmp /tmp/xxx3 -
+echo -n " foobar" | cmp /tmp/xxx4 -
+echo -n "foobar " | cmp /tmp/xxx5 -
+echo -n "foo bar" | cmp /tmp/xxx6 -
+echo "foo bar " | cmp /tmp/xxx7 -
+echo -n "\" foo bar \"" | cmp /tmp/xxx8 -
+echo -n "' foo bar '" | cmp /tmp/xxx9 -
+
+rm /tmp/xxx{1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9}