diff --git a/crates/nu-parser/src/parser.rs b/crates/nu-parser/src/parser.rs
index 2bef822322..5e0d1a561d 100644
--- a/crates/nu-parser/src/parser.rs
+++ b/crates/nu-parser/src/parser.rs
@@ -193,6 +193,10 @@ pub fn parse_external_call(
     let mut args = vec![];
     let name_span = spans[0];
     let name = String::from_utf8_lossy(working_set.get_span_contents(name_span)).to_string();
+    let cwd = working_set.get_cwd();
+    let name = nu_path::expand_path_with(name, cwd)
+        .to_string_lossy()
+        .to_string();
     let mut error = None;
 
     for span in &spans[1..] {