diff --git a/src/apex/apex_options.cpp b/src/apex/apex_options.cpp
index 10c48a69..5f786811 100644
--- a/src/apex/apex_options.cpp
+++ b/src/apex/apex_options.cpp
@@ -138,9 +138,9 @@ namespace apex
         std::cout << #name << " : " << options.member_variable() << std::endl;
         FOREACH_APEX_STRING_OPTION(apex_macro)
 #undef apex_macro
-        std::unique_ptr<std::string> tmpstr = proc_data_reader::get_command_line();
+        std::string tmpstr(proc_data_reader::get_command_line());
         if (tmpstr.length() > 0) {
-            std::cout << tmpstr << std::endl;
+            std::cout << "Command line: " << tmpstr << std::endl;
         }
         return;
     }
diff --git a/src/apex/proc_read.cpp b/src/apex/proc_read.cpp
index 801a722f..313ba84d 100644
--- a/src/apex/proc_read.cpp
+++ b/src/apex/proc_read.cpp
@@ -13,6 +13,7 @@
 #include "apex_api.hpp"
 #include "apex.hpp"
 #include <sstream>
+#include <fstream>
 #include <atomic>
 #include <unordered_set>
 #include <string>
@@ -694,21 +695,18 @@ double msr_current_power_high(void) {
 }
 #endif
 
-std::unique_ptr<std::string> proc_data_reader::get_command_line(void) {
+std::string proc_data_reader::get_command_line(void) {
   std::string line;
-  std::fstream myfile ("/proc/self/cmdline");
-  std::stringstream ss;
-  if (myfile.is_open())
-  {
-    while ( getline (myfile,line) )
-    {
-      ss << line << '\n';
-    }
-    myfile.close();
+  std::fstream myfile("/proc/self/cmdline", ios_base::in);
+  if (myfile.is_open()) { 
+      getline (myfile,line);
+      myfile.close();
   } else {
-    // it wasn't there, so return nothing.
+      // it wasn't there, so return nothing.
   }
-  return std::move(ss.str());
+  return line;
 }
 
+} // namespace
+
 #endif // APEX_HAVE_PROC
diff --git a/src/apex/proc_read.h b/src/apex/proc_read.h
index 7ec00a1c..56ecb92f 100644
--- a/src/apex/proc_read.h
+++ b/src/apex/proc_read.h
@@ -60,7 +60,7 @@ class proc_data_reader {
         stop_reading();
         delete worker_thread;
     }
-    static std::unique_ptr<std::string> get_command_line(void);
+    static std::string get_command_line(void);
 };
 
 class ProcData {