diff --git a/modules/libcom/src/iocsh/iocsh.cpp b/modules/libcom/src/iocsh/iocsh.cpp
index 1e1cf1cd0..ae013f8a0 100644
--- a/modules/libcom/src/iocsh/iocsh.cpp
+++ b/modules/libcom/src/iocsh/iocsh.cpp
@@ -1325,7 +1325,7 @@ iocshCmd (const char *cmd)
 int epicsStdCall
 iocshLoad(const char *pathname, const char *macros)
 {
-    if (pathname)
+    if (pathname && !getenv("IOCSH_STARTUP_SCRIPT"))
         epicsEnvSet("IOCSH_STARTUP_SCRIPT", pathname);
     return iocshBody(pathname, NULL, macros);
 }