diff --git a/common/common.cpp b/common/common.cpp
index 5f70b2a6da049..24cf0363119d5 100644
--- a/common/common.cpp
+++ b/common/common.cpp
@@ -1636,6 +1636,10 @@ bool gpt_params_find_arg(int argc, char ** argv, const std::string & arg, gpt_pa
         params.cvector_negative_file = argv[i];
         return true;
     }
+    if (arg == "--single-prompt") {
+        params.single_prompt = true;
+        return true;
+    }
     if (arg == "--completions") {
         if (++i >= argc) {
             invalid_param = true;
@@ -1985,6 +1989,7 @@ void gpt_params_print_usage(int /*argc*/, char ** argv, const gpt_params & param
     options.push_back({ "cvector", "-o,  --output FNAME",     "output file (default: '%s')", params.cvector_outfile.c_str() });
     options.push_back({ "cvector", "--positive-file FNAME",   "positive prompts file, one prompt per line (default: '%s')", params.cvector_positive_file.c_str() });
     options.push_back({ "cvector", "--negative-file FNAME",   "negative prompts file, one prompt per line (default: '%s')", params.cvector_negative_file.c_str() });
+    options.push_back({ "cvector", "--single-prompt",         "assume prompt files only contain one prompt (for multiline prompts)" });
     options.push_back({ "cvector", "--completions-file FNAME","completions file (default: '%s')", params.cvector_completions_file.c_str() });
     options.push_back({ "cvector", "--completions N",         "number of lines of completions file to use (default: %d)", params.n_completions });
     options.push_back({ "cvector", "--batch-pca N",           "batch size used for PCA. Larger batch runs faster, but uses more memory (default: %d)", params.n_pca_batch });
diff --git a/common/common.h b/common/common.h
index fa44859c6a63f..50513f2c19877 100644
--- a/common/common.h
+++ b/common/common.h
@@ -241,6 +241,7 @@ struct gpt_params {
     std::string cvector_completions_file = "examples/control-vector-generator/completions.txt";
     std::string cvector_positive_file    = "examples/control-vector-generator/positive.txt";
     std::string cvector_negative_file    = "examples/control-vector-generator/negative.txt";
+    bool single_prompt = false;
 };
 
 void gpt_params_handle_model_default(gpt_params & params);
diff --git a/examples/control-vector-generator/control-vector-generator.cpp b/examples/control-vector-generator/control-vector-generator.cpp
index 136f78974ca97..d3c29cc948172 100644
--- a/examples/control-vector-generator/control-vector-generator.cpp
+++ b/examples/control-vector-generator/control-vector-generator.cpp
@@ -289,7 +289,7 @@ static std::string to_string(const T & val) {
     return ss.str();
 }
 
-static std::vector<std::string> ctrlvec_load_prompt_file(std::string path, bool skip_empty_lines = false) {
+static std::vector<std::string> ctrlvec_load_prompt_file(std::string path, bool skip_empty_lines = false, bool single_prompt = false) {
     std::vector<std::string> output;
     std::ifstream file(path);
     if (!file.is_open()) {
@@ -304,6 +304,14 @@ static std::vector<std::string> ctrlvec_load_prompt_file(std::string path, bool
         }
     }
     file.close();
+    if (single_prompt) {
+        std::string single_prompt;
+        for (const auto & line : output) {
+            single_prompt += line + "\n";
+        }
+        output.clear();
+        output.push_back(single_prompt);
+    }
     return output;
 }
 
@@ -362,8 +370,8 @@ static void export_gguf(const std::vector<struct ggml_tensor *> & v_ctrl, const
  */
 static int prepare_entries(gpt_params & params, train_context & ctx_train) {
     // load prompts
-    std::vector<std::string> positive_prompts = ctrlvec_load_prompt_file(params.cvector_positive_file);
-    std::vector<std::string> negative_prompts = ctrlvec_load_prompt_file(params.cvector_negative_file);
+    std::vector<std::string> positive_prompts = ctrlvec_load_prompt_file(params.cvector_positive_file, false, params.single_prompt);
+    std::vector<std::string> negative_prompts = ctrlvec_load_prompt_file(params.cvector_negative_file, false, params.single_prompt);
     if (positive_prompts.size() != negative_prompts.size()) {
         fprintf(stderr, "number of positive and negative prompts must be equal\n");
         return 1;
diff --git a/examples/control-vector-generator/pca.hpp b/examples/control-vector-generator/pca.hpp
index 903f6cc7c9ec7..28f8bd3e9f4ca 100644
--- a/examples/control-vector-generator/pca.hpp
+++ b/examples/control-vector-generator/pca.hpp
@@ -11,6 +11,7 @@
 #endif
 
 #include <cstdio>
+#include <ctime>
 #include <string>
 #include <tuple>
 #include <vector>