diff --git a/builtin.cpp b/builtin.cpp
index 6f7cc33c6..1420e33c1 100644
--- a/builtin.cpp
+++ b/builtin.cpp
@@ -2301,6 +2301,7 @@ static int builtin_read(parser_t &parser, wchar_t **argv)
     int exit_res=STATUS_BUILTIN_OK;
     const wchar_t *mode_name = READ_MODE_NAME;
     int shell = 0;
+    int array = 0;
 
     woptind=0;
 
@@ -2345,6 +2346,10 @@ static int builtin_read(parser_t &parser, wchar_t **argv)
                 L"shell", no_argument, 0, 's'
             }
             ,
+            {
+                L"array", no_argument, 0, 'a'
+            }
+            ,
             {
                 L"help", no_argument, 0, 'h'
             }
@@ -2359,7 +2364,7 @@ static int builtin_read(parser_t &parser, wchar_t **argv)
 
         int opt = wgetopt_long(argc,
                                argv,
-                               L"xglUup:c:hm:s",
+                               L"xglUup:c:hm:sa",
                                long_options,
                                &opt_index);
         if (opt == -1)
@@ -2414,6 +2419,10 @@ static int builtin_read(parser_t &parser, wchar_t **argv)
                 shell = 1;
                 break;
 
+            case 'a':
+                array = 1;
+                break;
+
             case 'h':
                 builtin_print_help(parser, argv[0], stdout_buffer);
                 return STATUS_BUILTIN_OK;
@@ -2446,6 +2455,14 @@ static int builtin_read(parser_t &parser, wchar_t **argv)
         return STATUS_BUILTIN_ERROR;
     }
 
+    if (array && woptind+1 != argc)
+    {
+        append_format(stderr_buffer, _(L"%ls: --array option requires a single variable name.\n"), argv[0]);
+        builtin_print_help(parser, argv[0], stderr_buffer);
+
+        return STATUS_BUILTIN_ERROR;
+    }
+
     /*
       Verify all variable names
     */
@@ -2580,18 +2597,64 @@ static int builtin_read(parser_t &parser, wchar_t **argv)
         wchar_t *state;
 
         env_var_t ifs = env_get_string(L"IFS");
-        if (ifs.missing())
-            ifs = L"";
 
-        nxt = wcstok(buff, (i<argc-1)?ifs.c_str():L"", &state);
-
-        while (i<argc)
+        if (ifs.missing_or_empty())
         {
-            env_set(argv[i], nxt != 0 ? nxt: L"", place);
+            /* Every character is a separate token */
+            size_t bufflen = wcslen(buff);
+            if (array)
+            {
+                if (bufflen > 0)
+                {
+                    wcstring chars(bufflen+(bufflen-1), ARRAY_SEP);
+                    for (size_t j=0; j<bufflen; ++j)
+                    {
+                        chars[j*2] = buff[j];
+                    }
+                    env_set(argv[i], chars.c_str(), place);
+                }
+                else
+                {
+                    env_set(argv[i], NULL, place);
+                }
+            }
+            else
+            {
+                size_t j = 0;
+                for (; i+1 < argc; ++i)
+                {
+                    env_set(argv[i], j < bufflen ? (wchar_t[2]){buff[j], 0} : L"", place);
+                    if (j < bufflen) ++j;
+                }
+                if (i < argc) env_set(argv[i], &buff[j], place);
+            }
+        }
+        else if (array)
+        {
+            wcstring tokens;
+            tokens.reserve(wcslen(buff));
+            bool empty = true;
 
-            i++;
-            if (nxt != 0)
-                nxt = wcstok(0, (i<argc-1)?ifs.c_str():L"", &state);
+            for (nxt = wcstok(buff, ifs.c_str(), &state); nxt != 0; nxt = wcstok(0, ifs.c_str(), &state))
+            {
+                if (! tokens.empty()) tokens.push_back(ARRAY_SEP);
+                tokens.append(nxt);
+                empty = false;
+            }
+            env_set(argv[i], empty ? NULL : tokens.c_str(), place);
+        }
+        else
+        {
+            nxt = wcstok(buff, (i<argc-1)?ifs.c_str():L"", &state);
+
+            while (i<argc)
+            {
+                env_set(argv[i], nxt != 0 ? nxt: L"", place);
+
+                i++;
+                if (nxt != 0)
+                    nxt = wcstok(0, (i<argc-1)?ifs.c_str():L"", &state);
+            }
         }
     }
 
diff --git a/doc_src/read.txt b/doc_src/read.txt
index ca7a4d145..4f1760a56 100644
--- a/doc_src/read.txt
+++ b/doc_src/read.txt
@@ -19,11 +19,17 @@ The following options are available:
 - <code>-u</code> or <code>--unexport</code> prevents the variables from being exported to child processes (default behaviour).
 - <code>-U</code> or <code>--universal</code> causes the specified shell variable to be made universal.
 - <code>-x</code> or <code>--export</code> exports the variables to child processes.
+- <code>-a</code> or <code>--array</code> stores the result as an array.
 
 \c read reads a single line of input from stdin, breaks it into tokens
 based on the <tt>IFS</tt> shell variable, and then assigns one
 token to each variable specified in <tt>VARIABLES</tt>. If there are more
 tokens than variables, the complete remainder is assigned to the last variable.
+As a special case, if \c IFS is set to the empty string, each character of the
+input is considered a separate token.
+
+If \c -a or \c --array is provided, only one variable name is allowed and the
+tokens are stored as an array in this variable.
 
 See the documentation for \c set for more details on the scoping rules for
 variables.
diff --git a/tests/read.err b/tests/read.err
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..e69de29bb
diff --git a/tests/read.in b/tests/read.in
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..53f9873b6
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/read.in
@@ -0,0 +1,72 @@
+#
+# Test read builtin and IFS
+#
+
+count (echo one\ntwo)
+set -l IFS \t
+count (echo one\ntwo)
+set -l IFS
+count (echo one\ntwo)
+set -le IFS
+
+function print_vars --no-scope-shadowing
+	set -l space
+	set -l IFS \n # ensure our command substitution works right
+	for var in $argv
+		echo -n $space (count $$var) \'$$var\'
+		set space ''
+	end
+	echo
+end
+
+echo
+echo 'hello there' | read -l one two
+print_vars one two
+echo 'hello there' | read -l one
+print_vars one
+echo '' | read -l one
+print_vars one
+echo '' | read -l one two
+print_vars one two
+echo 'test' | read -l one two three
+print_vars one two three
+
+echo
+set -l IFS
+echo 'hello' | read -l one
+print_vars one
+echo 'hello' | read -l one two
+print_vars one two
+echo 'hello' | read -l one two three
+print_vars one two three
+echo '' | read -l one
+print_vars one
+echo 't' | read -l one two
+print_vars one two
+echo 't' | read -l one two three
+print_vars one two three
+echo ' t' | read -l one two
+print_vars one two
+set -le IFS
+
+echo
+echo 'hello there' | read -la ary
+print_vars ary
+echo 'hello' | read -la ary
+print_vars ary
+echo 'this is a bunch of words' | read -la ary
+print_vars ary
+echo '   one   two     three' | read -la ary
+print_vars ary
+echo '' | read -la ary
+print_vars ary
+
+echo
+set -l IFS
+echo 'hello' | read -la ary
+print_vars ary
+echo 'h' | read -la ary
+print_vars ary
+echo '' | read -la ary
+print_vars ary
+set -le IFS
diff --git a/tests/read.out b/tests/read.out
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..6d90fc0e7
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/read.out
@@ -0,0 +1,27 @@
+2
+2
+1
+
+1 'hello' 1 'there'
+1 'hello there'
+1 ''
+1 '' 1 ''
+1 'test' 1 '' 1 ''
+
+1 'hello'
+1 'h' 1 'ello'
+1 'h' 1 'e' 1 'llo'
+1 ''
+1 't' 1 ''
+1 't' 1 '' 1 ''
+1 ' ' 1 't'
+
+2 'hello' 'there'
+1 'hello'
+6 'this' 'is' 'a' 'bunch' 'of' 'words'
+3 'one' 'two' 'three'
+0
+
+5 'h' 'e' 'l' 'l' 'o'
+1 'h'
+0
diff --git a/tests/read.status b/tests/read.status
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..573541ac9
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/read.status
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+0
diff --git a/tests/top.out b/tests/top.out
index 768526c66..f2873b153 100644
--- a/tests/top.out
+++ b/tests/top.out
@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
 Testing high level script functionality
 File printf.in tested ok
+File read.in tested ok
 File test1.in tested ok
 File test2.in tested ok
 File test3.in tested ok