diff --git a/dbLoadTemplate b/dbLoadTemplate
index 5f17acb..fa034c4 100755
--- a/dbLoadTemplate
+++ b/dbLoadTemplate
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 #!/usr/bin/env perl
 
-# $Header: /cvs/G/EPICS/App/scripts/dbLoadTemplate,v 1.5 2009/09/07 12:02:33 zimoch Exp $
+# $Header: /cvs/G/EPICS/App/scripts/dbLoadTemplate,v 1.6 2013/02/26 13:35:32 zimoch Exp $
 
 use strict;
 
@@ -120,9 +120,9 @@ sub parseSubst {
             local %subst;
             while (1) {
                 my $macro;
-                do {
-                    $macro = expect "$WORD|,|} macro name";
-                } while $_ eq ",";   # ignore commas
+                $macro = expect "$WORD|,|} macro name";
+                # one comma allowed
+                if ($_ eq ",") {$macro = expect "$WORD macro name";}
                 last if $_ eq '}';
                 expect "=", "$STRING|$SUBST value for $macro";
                 $subst{$macro} = $_;
@@ -135,9 +135,9 @@ sub parseSubst {
         expect "{";
         my @macros;
         while (1) {
-            do {
-                expect "$WORD|,|} macro name";
-            } while $_ eq ",";  # ignore commas
+            expect "$WORD|,|} macro name";
+            # one comma allowed
+            if ($_ eq ",") {expect "$WORD macro name";}
             last if $_ eq '}';
             push @macros, $_;
         };
@@ -146,9 +146,8 @@ sub parseSubst {
             expect "{|} '{' or '}'";
             last if $_ eq "}";
             foreach my $macro (@macros) {
-                do {
-                    expect "$STRING|$SUBST|, value for $macro";
-                } while $_ eq ",";  # ignore commas
+                expect "$STRING|$SUBST|, value for $macro";
+                if ($_ eq ",") {expect "$STRING|$SUBST value for $macro";}
                 $subst{$macro} = $_;
             }
             expect "}";