diff --git a/method/__init__.py b/method/__init__.py
index ca0cefd..7db5272 100644
--- a/method/__init__.py
+++ b/method/__init__.py
@@ -404,6 +404,87 @@ class MetaX(Method):
             w.application.methods[name].execute(w, **vargs)
         else:
             w.set_error('no method named %r found' % name)
+
+class MetaXTwo(MetaX):
+    args        = [arg('method', dt="method", p="M-x ", h='Method to execute')]
+    name_re     = re.compile(r'[a-z0-9_-]+')
+
+    py_empty_re = re.compile(r'^\( *\)$')
+    py_delim_re = re.compile(r', *')
+    py_end_re   = re.compile(r' *\)')
+
+    pythonstyle = {
+        'arg_re':  re.compile(r'("(?:[^\\"]|\\.)"|[^=),]+)(?= *,| *\))'),
+        'varg_re': re.compile(r'([a-z0-9_]+)=("(?:[^\\"]|\\.)"|[^=),]+)'),
+    }
+    shellstyle = {
+        'arg_re':  re.compile(r'("(?:[^\\"]|\\.)"|[^= ]+)(?= +|$)'),
+        'varg_re': re.compile(r'([a-z0-9_]+)=("(?:[^\\"]|\\.)"|[^= ]+)'),
+    }
+    def _parse_arg(self, w, style, other, i):
+        m1 = style['arg_re'].match(other, i)
+        m2 = style['varg_re'].match(other, i)
+        if not (m1 or m2):
+            w.set_error("1couldn't parse %r:%d -> %r" % (other, i, other[i:]))
+            return (None, None, 0)
+        elif m1 and m2:
+            w.set_error("3couldn't parse %r:%d -> %r" % (other, i, other[i:]))
+            return (None, None, 0)
+
+        if m1:
+            name, value = None, m1.group(1)
+            if value.startswith('"'): value = eval(value)
+            return (None, value, m1.end())
+        elif m2:
+            name, value = m2.group(1), m2.group(2)
+            if value.startswith('"'): value = eval(value)
+            return (name, value, m2.end())
+        
+    def _execute(self, w, **vargs):
+        s = vargs['method'].strip()
+        m = self.name_re.match(s)
+        assert m, "invalid cmd %r" % s
+
+        func  = m.group(0)
+        args  = []
+        vargs = {}
+        other = s[m.end():].strip()
+        if not other or self.py_empty_re.match(other):
+            # no arguments
+            pass
+        elif other.startswith('('):
+            # python type call
+            i = 1
+            while other[i] == ' ':
+                i += 1
+            while i < len(other):
+                name, value, i = self._parse_arg(w, self.pythonstyle, other, i)
+                if not value: return
+                elif name:
+                    vargs[name] = value
+                else:
+                    args.append(value)
+                if self.py_end_re.match(other, i): break
+                m = self.py_delim_re.match(other, i)
+                if not m:
+                    w.set_error("2couldn't parse %r" % s[i:])
+                    return
+                i = m.end()
+        else:
+            # shell type call
+            i = 0
+            while i < len(other):
+                if other[i] == ' ':
+                    i += 1
+                    continue
+                name, value, i = self._parse_arg(w, self.shellstyle, other, i)
+                if not value: return
+                elif name:
+                    vargs[name] = value
+                else:
+                    args.append(value)
+
+        w.set_error("func %r; other %r; args %r; vargs %r" % (func, other, args, vargs))
             
 class ToggleMargins(Method):
     '''Show or hide column margins'''