diff --git a/src/dbtools/dbLoadTemplate.y b/src/dbtools/dbLoadTemplate.y
index 21006793d..40bc40274 100644
--- a/src/dbtools/dbLoadTemplate.y
+++ b/src/dbtools/dbLoadTemplate.y
@@ -27,7 +27,6 @@ static int yyerror();
 #define VAR_MAX_VARS 100
 
 static char *sub_collect = NULL;
-static MAC_HANDLE *macHandle = NULL;
 static char** vars = NULL;
 static char* db_file_name = NULL;
 static int var_count,sub_count;
diff --git a/src/dbtools/dbLoadTemplate_lex.l b/src/dbtools/dbLoadTemplate_lex.l
index 063df2453..848ec5190 100644
--- a/src/dbtools/dbLoadTemplate_lex.l
+++ b/src/dbtools/dbLoadTemplate_lex.l
@@ -1,5 +1,14 @@
+/*************************************************************************\
+* Copyright (c) 2002 The University of Chicago, as Operator of Argonne
+*     National Laboratory.
+* Copyright (c) 2002 The Regents of the University of California, as
+*     Operator of Los Alamos National Laboratory.
+* EPICS BASE Versions 3.13.7
+* and higher are distributed subject to a Software License Agreement found
+* in file LICENSE that is included with this distribution. 
+\*************************************************************************/
 
-word	[a-zA-Z0-9_\.\^~/\*#\[\]%:;!|\-&\$\(\)@\?\+<>]
+word [a-zA-Z0-9_\.\^~/\*#\[\]%:;!|\-&\$\(\)@\?\+<>]
 par [\"\']
 
 notquote [^\"]
@@ -17,19 +26,32 @@ value {notquote}|{escapequote}
 "file"    { return(DBFILE); }
 "="	  { return(EQUALS); }
 
-{par}{value}*{par}    { yylval.Str = dbmfStrdup(yytext);
-			yylval.Str[strlen(yylval.Str)-1] = '\0';
-			return(QUOTE);
-		      }
+{par}{value}*{par} {
+	yylval.Str = dbmfStrdup(yytext);
+	yylval.Str[strlen(yylval.Str)-1] = '\0';
+	return(QUOTE);
+    }
 
-{word}+	{ yylval.Str = dbmfStrdup(yytext);
-	  return(WORD);
-	}
+{word}+ {
+	yylval.Str = dbmfStrdup(yytext);
+	return(WORD);
+    }
 
 "{"	{ return(O_BRACE);	}
 "}"	{ return(C_BRACE);	}
 
-.	;
 \n	{ line_num ++;}
 
+. {
+	char message[20];
+	YY_BUFFER_STATE *dummy=0;
+
+	sprintf(message,"invalid character '%c'",yytext[0]);
+	yyerror(message);
+
+	/*The following suppress compiler warning messages*/
+	if (0) yyunput('c',(unsigned char *) message);
+	if (0) yy_switch_to_buffer(*dummy);
+    }
+
 %%