diff --git a/lib/importproject.cpp b/lib/importproject.cpp
index 72e683559..146456684 100644
--- a/lib/importproject.cpp
+++ b/lib/importproject.cpp
@@ -424,7 +424,15 @@ void ImportProject::importCompileCommands(std::istream &istr)
             continue;
 
         struct FileSettings fs;
-        fs.filename = Path::simplifyPath(directory + file);
+        if (Path::isAbsolute(file) || Path::fileExists(file))
+            fs.filename = file;
+        else {
+            std::string path = directory;
+            if (!path.empty() && !endsWith(path,'/'))
+                path += '/';
+            path += file;
+            fs.filename = Path::simplifyPath(path);
+        }
         fs.parseCommand(command); // read settings; -D, -I, -U, -std, -m*, -f*
         std::map<std::string, std::string, cppcheck::stricmp> variables;
         fs.setIncludePaths(directory, fs.includePaths, variables);
diff --git a/test/cli/test-proj2.py b/test/cli/test-proj2.py
index 63495690d..3918bf404 100644
--- a/test/cli/test-proj2.py
+++ b/test/cli/test-proj2.py
@@ -19,7 +19,7 @@ def realpath(s):
 
 def create_compile_commands():
     j = [{'directory': realpath('proj2/a'), 'command': 'gcc -c a.c', 'file': 'a.c'},
-         {'directory': realpath('proj2'), 'command': 'gcc -c b/b.c', 'file': 'b/b.c'}]
+         {'directory': realpath('proj2/b'), 'command': 'gcc -c b.c', 'file': 'b.c'}]
     f = open('proj2/' + COMPILE_COMMANDS_JSON, 'wt')
     f.write(json.dumps(j))