diff --git a/NEWS.md b/NEWS.md
index 787a916a6c6d8..f0673fc225b3c 100644
--- a/NEWS.md
+++ b/NEWS.md
@@ -40,6 +40,10 @@ This section lists changes that do not have deprecation warnings.
     of the socket. Previously the address of the remote endpoint was being
     returned ([#21825]).
 
+  * Using `ARGS` within the ~/.juliarc.jl or within a .jl file loaded with `--load` will no
+    longer contain the script name as the first argument. Instead the script name will be
+    assigned to `PROGRAM_FILE`. ([#22092])
+
 Library improvements
 --------------------
 
diff --git a/base/client.jl b/base/client.jl
index 2f22a24ca6e7e..c2e5e4de82cd7 100644
--- a/base/client.jl
+++ b/base/client.jl
@@ -257,6 +257,11 @@ function process_options(opts::JLOptions)
     color_set             = (opts.color != 0)
     global have_color     = (opts.color == 1)
     global is_interactive = (opts.isinteractive != 0)
+
+    # remove filename from ARGS
+    arg_is_program = opts.eval == C_NULL && opts.print == C_NULL && !isempty(ARGS)
+    global const PROGRAM_FILE = arg_is_program ? shift!(ARGS) : ""
+
     while true
         # startup worker.
         # opts.startupfile, opts.load, etc should should not be processed for workers.
@@ -296,11 +301,9 @@ function process_options(opts::JLOptions)
             break
         end
         # load file
-        if !isempty(ARGS) && !isempty(ARGS[1])
+        if !isempty(PROGRAM_FILE)
             # program
             repl = false
-            # remove filename from ARGS
-            global PROGRAM_FILE = shift!(ARGS)
             if !is_interactive
                 ccall(:jl_exit_on_sigint, Void, (Cint,), 1)
             end
diff --git a/base/initdefs.jl b/base/initdefs.jl
index 20437a4e57cba..4535a718a5fd7 100644
--- a/base/initdefs.jl
+++ b/base/initdefs.jl
@@ -9,7 +9,7 @@ A string containing the script name passed to Julia from the command line. Note
 script name remains unchanged from within included files. Alternatively see
 [`@__FILE__`](@ref).
 """
-PROGRAM_FILE = ""
+:PROGRAM_FILE
 
 """
     ARGS
diff --git a/test/cmdlineargs.jl b/test/cmdlineargs.jl
index f5ca5f9698dd0..3bcdd0a7d2c9e 100644
--- a/test/cmdlineargs.jl
+++ b/test/cmdlineargs.jl
@@ -248,53 +248,73 @@ let exename = `$(Base.julia_cmd()) --precompiled=yes --startup-file=no`
     # tested in test/parallel.jl, test/examples.jl)
     @test !success(`$exename --worker=true`)
 
-    escape(str) = replace(str, "\\", "\\\\")
-
     # test passing arguments
-    let testfile = tempname()
-        try
-            # write a julia source file that just prints ARGS to STDOUT
-            write(testfile, """
-                println(ARGS)
+    mktempdir() do dir
+        testfile = joinpath(dir, tempname())
+        # write a julia source file that just prints ARGS to STDOUT
+        write(testfile, """
+            println(ARGS)
             """)
-            @test readchomp(`$exename $testfile foo -bar --baz`) ==
-                "String[\"foo\", \"-bar\", \"--baz\"]"
-            @test readchomp(`$exename $testfile -- foo -bar --baz`) ==
-                "String[\"foo\", \"-bar\", \"--baz\"]"
+        cp(testfile, joinpath(dir, ".juliarc.jl"))
+
+        withenv((is_windows() ? "USERPROFILE" : "HOME") => dir) do
+            output = "String[\"foo\", \"-bar\", \"--baz\"]"
+            @test readchomp(`$exename $testfile foo -bar --baz`) == output
+            @test readchomp(`$exename $testfile -- foo -bar --baz`) == output
             @test readchomp(`$exename -L $testfile -e 'exit(0)' -- foo -bar --baz`) ==
-                "String[\"foo\", \"-bar\", \"--baz\"]"
-            @test split(readchomp(`$exename -L $testfile $testfile`), '\n') ==
-                ["String[\"$(escape(testfile))\"]", "String[]"]
+                output
+            @test readchomp(`$exename --startup-file=yes -e 'exit(0)' -- foo -bar --baz`) ==
+                output
+
+            output = "String[]\nString[]"
+            @test readchomp(`$exename -L $testfile $testfile`) == output
+            @test readchomp(`$exename --startup-file=yes $testfile`) == output
+
             @test !success(`$exename --foo $testfile`)
-            @test readchomp(`$exename -L $testfile -e 'exit(0)' -- foo -bar -- baz`) == "String[\"foo\", \"-bar\", \"--\", \"baz\"]"
-        finally
-            rm(testfile)
+            @test readchomp(`$exename -L $testfile -e 'exit(0)' -- foo -bar -- baz`) ==
+                "String[\"foo\", \"-bar\", \"--\", \"baz\"]"
         end
     end
 
-    # test the script name
-    let a = tempname(), b = tempname()
-        try
-            write(a, """
-                println(@__FILE__)
-                println(PROGRAM_FILE)
-                println(length(ARGS))
-                include(\"$(escape(b))\")
+    # test the program name remains constant
+    mktempdir() do dir
+        a = joinpath(dir, "a.jl")
+        b = joinpath(dir, "b.jl")
+        c = joinpath(dir, ".juliarc.jl")
+
+        write(a, """
+            println(@__FILE__)
+            println(PROGRAM_FILE)
+            include(\"$(escape_string(b))\")
             """)
-            write(b, """
-                println(@__FILE__)
-                println(PROGRAM_FILE)
-                println(length(ARGS))
+        write(b, """
+            println(@__FILE__)
+            println(PROGRAM_FILE)
             """)
-            @test split(readchomp(`$exename $a`), '\n') ==
-                ["$a", "$a", "0", "$b", "$a", "0"]
-            @test split(readchomp(`$exename -L $b -e 'exit(0)'`), '\n') ==
-                ["$(realpath(b))", "", "0"]
-            @test split(readchomp(`$exename -L $b $a`), '\n') ==
-                ["$(realpath(b))", "", "1", "$a", "$a", "0", "$b", "$a", "0"]
-        finally
-            rm(a)
-            rm(b)
+        cp(b, c)
+
+        readsplit(cmd) = split(readchomp(cmd), '\n')
+
+        withenv((is_windows() ? "USERPROFILE" : "HOME") => dir) do
+            @test readsplit(`$exename $a`) ==
+                [a, a,
+                 b, a]
+            @test readsplit(`$exename -L $b -e 'exit(0)'`) ==
+                [realpath(b), ""]
+            @test readsplit(`$exename -L $b $a`) ==
+                [realpath(b), a,
+                 a, a,
+                 b, a]
+            @test readsplit(`$exename --startup-file=yes -e 'exit(0)'`) ==
+                [c, ""]
+            @test readsplit(`$exename --startup-file=yes -L $b -e 'exit(0)'`) ==
+                [c, "",
+                 realpath(b), ""]
+            @test readsplit(`$exename --startup-file=yes -L $b $a`) ==
+                [c, a,
+                 realpath(b), a,
+                 a, a,
+                 b, a]
         end
     end