diff --git a/src/pygccxml/parser/source_reader.py b/src/pygccxml/parser/source_reader.py
index d864554b..f64ae4e1 100644
--- a/src/pygccxml/parser/source_reader.py
+++ b/src/pygccxml/parser/source_reader.py
@@ -121,6 +121,7 @@ def __create_command_line_castxml(self, source_file, xmlfile):
                 "your xml_generator_configuration_t(), or add it to your " +
                 "pygccxml configuration file."))
 
+        stdcxx_switch = self.__cxx_std.stdcxx
         # Platform specific options
         if platform.system() == 'Windows':
             compilers = ("mingw", "g++", "gcc")
@@ -132,29 +133,30 @@ def __create_command_line_castxml(self, source_file, xmlfile):
                 cmd.append('--castxml-cc-gnu ' + self.__config.compiler_path)
             else:
                 # We are using msvc
-                cmd.append('--castxml-cc-msvc ' +
-                           '"%s"' % self.__config.compiler_path)
                 if self.__config.compiler == 'msvc9':
                     cmd.append('"-D_HAS_TR1=0"')
+                cmd.append('--castxml-cc-msvc ')
+                # msvc uses std:c++XX format instead of std=c++XX
+                stdcxx_switch = stdcxx_switch.replace('=', ':')
         else:
             # On mac or linux, use gcc or clang (the flag is the same)
             cmd.append('--castxml-cc-gnu ')
 
-            if self.__cxx_std.is_implicit:
-                std_flag = ''
-            else:
-                std_flag = ' ' + self.__cxx_std.stdcxx + ' '
+        if self.__cxx_std.is_implicit:
+            std_flag = ''
+        else:
+            std_flag = ' ' + stdcxx_switch + ' '
 
-            ccflags = self.__config.ccflags
-            if std_flag:
-                ccflags += std_flag
+        ccflags = self.__config.ccflags
+        if std_flag:
+            ccflags += std_flag
 
-            if ccflags:
-                all_cc_opts = self.__config.compiler_path + ' ' + ccflags
-                cmd.append(
-                    '"(" ' + all_cc_opts + ' ")"')
-            else:
-                cmd.append(self.__config.compiler_path)
+        if ccflags:
+            all_cc_opts = f'"{self.__config.compiler_path}"' + ' ' + ccflags
+            cmd.append(
+                '"(" ' + all_cc_opts + ' ")"')
+        else:
+            cmd.append(f'"{self.__config.compiler_path}"')
 
         if self.__config.castxml_epic_version is not None:
             if self.__config.castxml_epic_version != 1:
diff --git a/unittests/data/cpp_standard_17.hpp b/unittests/data/cpp_standard_17.hpp
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..b336a9aa
--- /dev/null
+++ b/unittests/data/cpp_standard_17.hpp
@@ -0,0 +1,9 @@
+// Copyright 2014-2017 Insight Software Consortium.
+// Copyright 2004-2009 Roman Yakovenko.
+// Distributed under the Boost Software License, Version 1.0.
+// See http://www.boost.org/LICENSE_1_0.txt
+
+// See https://github.com/CastXML/pygccxml/issues/180
+// variant introduced in C++17
+#include <variant>
+std::variant<int, double, float> value;
diff --git a/unittests/test_cpp_standards.py b/unittests/test_cpp_standards.py
index 1eb5a3fb..711922fa 100644
--- a/unittests/test_cpp_standards.py
+++ b/unittests/test_cpp_standards.py
@@ -48,6 +48,15 @@ def test(self):
             RuntimeError,
             lambda: parser.parse(["cpp_standards.hpp"], self.config))
 
+    def test_cpp17(self):
+        """
+        Test c++17 by setting cflags.
+
+        """
+
+        self.config.cflags = "-std=c++17"
+        parser.parse(["cpp_standard_17.hpp"], self.config)
+
 
 def create_suite():
     suite = unittest.TestSuite()