diff --git a/frappe/commands/utils.py b/frappe/commands/utils.py
index 721376016c..acd25eb166 100644
--- a/frappe/commands/utils.py
+++ b/frappe/commands/utils.py
@@ -133,6 +133,7 @@ def reset_perms(context):
 def execute(context, method, args=None, kwargs=None, profile=False):
 	"Execute a function"
 	for site in context.sites:
+		ret = ""
 		try:
 			frappe.init(site=site)
 			frappe.connect()
@@ -154,7 +155,10 @@ def execute(context, method, args=None, kwargs=None, profile=False):
 				pr = cProfile.Profile()
 				pr.enable()
 
-			ret = frappe.get_attr(method)(*args, **kwargs)
+			try:
+				ret = frappe.get_attr(method)(*args, **kwargs)
+			except Exception:
+				ret = frappe.safe_eval(method + "(*args, **kwargs)", eval_globals=globals(), eval_locals=locals())
 
 			if profile:
 				pr.disable()
diff --git a/frappe/tests/test_commands.py b/frappe/tests/test_commands.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..82c0cdce5c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/frappe/tests/test_commands.py
@@ -0,0 +1,46 @@
+# Copyright (c) 2020, Frappe Technologies Pvt. Ltd. and Contributors
+
+# imports - standard imports
+import shlex
+import subprocess
+import unittest
+
+# imports - module imports
+import frappe
+
+
+def clean(value):
+	if isinstance(value, (bytes, str)):
+		value = value.decode().strip()
+	return value
+
+
+class BaseTestCommands:
+	def execute(self, command):
+		command = command.format(**{"site": frappe.local.site})
+		command = shlex.split(command)
+		self._proc = subprocess.run(command, stdout=subprocess.PIPE, stderr=subprocess.PIPE)
+		self.stdout = clean(self._proc.stdout)
+		self.stderr = clean(self._proc.stderr)
+		self.returncode = clean(self._proc.returncode)
+
+
+class TestCommands(BaseTestCommands, unittest.TestCase):
+	def test_execute(self):
+		# test 1: execute a command expecting a numeric output
+		self.execute("bench --site {site} execute frappe.db.get_database_size")
+		self.assertEquals(self.returncode, 0)
+		self.assertIsInstance(float(self.stdout), float)
+
+		# test 2: execute a command expecting an errored output as local won't exist
+		self.execute("bench --site {site} execute frappe.local.site")
+		self.assertEquals(self.returncode, 1)
+		self.assertIsNotNone(self.stderr)
+
+		# test 3: execute a command with kwargs
+		# Note:
+		# terminal command has been escaped to avoid .format string replacement
+		# The returned value has quotes which have been trimmed for the test
+		self.execute("""bench --site {site} execute frappe.bold --kwargs '{{"text": "DocType"}}'""")
+		self.assertEquals(self.returncode, 0)
+		self.assertEquals(self.stdout[1:-1], frappe.bold(text='DocType'))