diff --git a/lib/connection-parameters.js b/lib/connection-parameters.js
index f21da1fc0..e69fc5ba5 100644
--- a/lib/connection-parameters.js
+++ b/lib/connection-parameters.js
@@ -12,16 +12,24 @@ var val = function(key, config) {
 var url = require('url');
 //parses a connection string
 var parse = function(str) {
+  var config;
   //unix socket
   if(str.charAt(0) === '/') {
-    return { host: str };
+    config = str.split(' ');
+    return { host: config[0], database: config[1] };
   }
   // url parse expects spaces encoded as %20
-  str = encodeURI(str);
+  if(/ |%[^a-f0-9]|%[a-f0-9][^a-f0-9]/i.test(str)) str = encodeURI(str);
   var result = url.parse(str, true);
-  var config = {};
+  config = {};
+  if(result.protocol == 'socket:') {
+    config.host = decodeURI(result.pathname);
+    config.database = result.query.db;
+    config.client_encoding = result.query.encoding;
+    return config;
+  }
   config.host = result.hostname;
-  config.database = result.pathname ? result.pathname.slice(1) : null;
+  config.database = result.pathname ? decodeURI(result.pathname.slice(1)) : null;
   var auth = (result.auth || ':').split(':');
   config.user = auth[0];
   config.password = auth[1];
diff --git a/test/unit/connection-parameters/creation-tests.js b/test/unit/connection-parameters/creation-tests.js
index 0624c7939..aaab12155 100644
--- a/test/unit/connection-parameters/creation-tests.js
+++ b/test/unit/connection-parameters/creation-tests.js
@@ -47,10 +47,44 @@ test('ConnectionParameters initializing from config', function() {
   assert.ok(subject.isDomainSocket === false);
 });
 
+test('escape spaces if present', function() {
+  subject = new ConnectionParameters('postgres://localhost/post gres');
+  assert.equal(subject.database, 'post gres');
+});
+
+test('do not double escape spaces', function() {
+  subject = new ConnectionParameters('postgres://localhost/post%20gres');
+  assert.equal(subject.database, 'post gres');
+});
+
 test('initializing with unix domain socket', function() {
   var subject = new ConnectionParameters('/var/run/');
   assert.ok(subject.isDomainSocket);
   assert.equal(subject.host, '/var/run/');
+  assert.equal(subject.database, defaults.user);
+});
+
+test('initializing with unix domain socket and a specific database, the simple way', function() {
+  var subject = new ConnectionParameters('/var/run/ mydb');
+  assert.ok(subject.isDomainSocket);
+  assert.equal(subject.host, '/var/run/');
+  assert.equal(subject.database, 'mydb');
+});
+
+test('initializing with unix domain socket, the health way', function() {
+  var subject = new ConnectionParameters('socket:/some path/?db=my[db]&encoding=utf8');
+  assert.ok(subject.isDomainSocket);
+  assert.equal(subject.host, '/some path/');
+  assert.equal(subject.database, 'my[db]', 'must to be escaped and unescaped trough "my%5Bdb%5D"');
+  assert.equal(subject.client_encoding, 'utf8');
+});
+
+test('initializing with unix domain socket, the escaped health way', function() {
+  var subject = new ConnectionParameters('socket:/some%20path/?db=my%2Bdb&encoding=utf8');
+  assert.ok(subject.isDomainSocket);
+  assert.equal(subject.host, '/some path/');
+  assert.equal(subject.database, 'my+db');
+  assert.equal(subject.client_encoding, 'utf8');
 });
 
 test('libpq connection string building', function() {