diff --git a/modules/matlab/CMakeLists.txt b/modules/matlab/CMakeLists.txt
index f9f869051d..d97d3dd1af 100644
--- a/modules/matlab/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/modules/matlab/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -122,8 +122,11 @@ if (NOT MEX_WORKS)
     message(STATUS "Trying to generate Matlab code")
     execute_process(
         COMMAND ${PYTHON_EXECUTABLE} 
-                ${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR}/generator/gen_matlab.py ${HDR_PARSER_PATH}
-                ${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR}/test/test_generator.hpp ${CMAKE_BINARY_DIR}/junk
+                ${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR}/generator/gen_matlab.py 
+                --hdrparser ${HDR_PARSER_PATH}
+                --rstparser ${RST_PARSER_PATH}
+                --headers   ${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR}/test/test_generator.hpp 
+                --outdir    ${CMAKE_BINARY_DIR}/junk
         ERROR_VARIABLE GEN_ERROR
         OUTPUT_QUIET 
     )
@@ -179,8 +182,11 @@ file(REMOVE ${GENERATE_PROXY} ${COMPILE_PROXY})
 add_custom_command(
     OUTPUT ${GENERATE_PROXY}
     COMMAND ${PYTHON_EXECUTABLE} 
-            ${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR}/generator/gen_matlab.py ${HDR_PARSER_PATH}
-            ${opencv_hdrs} ${CMAKE_CURRENT_BINARY_DIR}
+            ${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR}/generator/gen_matlab.py 
+            --hdrparser ${HDR_PARSER_PATH}
+            --rstparser ${RST_PARSER_PATH}
+            --headers   ${opencv_hdrs} 
+            --outdir    ${CMAKE_CURRENT_BINARY_DIR}
     COMMAND ${CMAKE_COMMAND} -E touch ${GENERATE_PROXY}
     COMMENT "Generating Matlab source files"
 )
diff --git a/modules/matlab/generator/gen_matlab.py b/modules/matlab/generator/gen_matlab.py
index efd4330517..fee4673a87 100644
--- a/modules/matlab/generator/gen_matlab.py
+++ b/modules/matlab/generator/gen_matlab.py
@@ -95,20 +95,27 @@ class MatlabWrapperGenerator(object):
 
 
 if __name__ == "__main__":
-    
-    # add the hdr_parser to the path
+   
+    # parse the input options
     import sys, re, os, time
-    sys.path.append(sys.argv[1])
+    from argparse import ArgumentParser
+    parser = ArgumentParser()
+    parser.add_argument('--hdrparser')
+    parser.add_argument('--rstparser')
+    parser.add_argument('--headers', nargs='+')
+    parser.add_argument('--outdir')
+    args = parser.parse_args()
+
+    # add the hdr_parser and rst_parser modules to the path
+    sys.path.append(args.hdrparser)
+    sys.path.append(args.rstparser)
+
     from string import Template
     from hdr_parser import CppHeaderParser
     from parse_tree import ParseTree, todict, constants
     from filters import *
     from jinja2 import Environment, FileSystemLoader
 
-    # get the IO from the command line arguments
-    input_files = sys.argv[2:-1]
-    output_dir  = sys.argv[-1]
-
     # create the generator
     mwg = MatlabWrapperGenerator()
-    mwg.gen(input_files, output_dir)
+    mwg.gen(args.headers, args.outdir)