diff --git a/builtin/sparse-checkout.c b/builtin/sparse-checkout.c
index cc86b8a0147..6083aa10f27 100644
--- a/builtin/sparse-checkout.c
+++ b/builtin/sparse-checkout.c
@@ -442,8 +442,21 @@ static int sparse_checkout_set(int argc, const char **argv, const char *prefix)
 		pl.use_cone_patterns = 1;
 
 		if (set_opts.use_stdin) {
-			while (!strbuf_getline(&line, stdin))
+			struct strbuf unquoted = STRBUF_INIT;
+			while (!strbuf_getline(&line, stdin)) {
+				if (line.buf[0] == '"') {
+					strbuf_reset(&unquoted);
+					if (unquote_c_style(&unquoted, line.buf, NULL))
+						die(_("unable to unquote C-style string '%s'"),
+						line.buf);
+
+					strbuf_swap(&unquoted, &line);
+				}
+
 				strbuf_to_cone_pattern(&line, &pl);
+			}
+
+			strbuf_release(&unquoted);
 		} else {
 			for (i = 0; i < argc; i++) {
 				strbuf_setlen(&line, 0);
diff --git a/t/t1091-sparse-checkout-builtin.sh b/t/t1091-sparse-checkout-builtin.sh
index fb8718e64a4..a46a310740a 100755
--- a/t/t1091-sparse-checkout-builtin.sh
+++ b/t/t1091-sparse-checkout-builtin.sh
@@ -405,7 +405,19 @@ test_expect_success BSLASHPSPEC 'pattern-checks: escaped "*"' '
 	/zdoes\*not\*exist/
 	EOF
 	test_cmp expect escaped/.git/info/sparse-checkout &&
-	check_read_tree_errors escaped "a zbad\\dir zdoes*exist"
+	check_read_tree_errors escaped "a zbad\\dir zdoes*exist" &&
+	git -C escaped ls-tree -d --name-only HEAD | git -C escaped sparse-checkout set --stdin &&
+	cat >expect <<-\EOF &&
+	/*
+	!/*/
+	/deep/
+	/folder1/
+	/folder2/
+	/zbad\\dir/
+	/zdoes\*exist/
+	EOF
+	test_cmp expect escaped/.git/info/sparse-checkout &&
+	check_files escaped "a deep folder1 folder2 zbad\\dir zdoes*exist"
 '
 
 test_done