diff --git a/src/base/io/ioReadBlifMv.c b/src/base/io/ioReadBlifMv.c
index 77ae18415..51ad65bec 100644
--- a/src/base/io/ioReadBlifMv.c
+++ b/src/base/io/ioReadBlifMv.c
@@ -696,6 +696,35 @@ static char * Io_MvLoadFile( char * pFileName )
     return pContents;
 }
 
+/**Function*************************************************************
+
+  Synopsis    []
+
+  Description []
+               
+  SideEffects []
+
+  SeeAlso     []
+
+***********************************************************************/
+void Io_MvReplaceBuffersByShorts( char * p )
+{
+    if ( !strstr(p, ".gate") )
+        return;
+    char * q, * pNext, * pShort = (char *)".short"; int i;
+    for ( q = p; *q && (pNext = strstr(q, ".names")); q = pNext ) {
+        for ( i = 0; i < 6; i++ )
+            pNext[i] = pShort[i];
+        while ( *pNext && *pNext++ != '\n' );
+        if ( *pNext == 0 )
+            return;
+        while ( *pNext && *pNext != '\n' )
+            *pNext++ = ' ';
+        if ( *pNext == 0 )
+            return;
+    }
+}
+
 /**Function*************************************************************
 
   Synopsis    [Prepares the parsing.]
@@ -717,6 +746,8 @@ static void Io_MvReadPreparse( Io_MvMan_t * p )
 {
     char * pCur, * pPrev;
     int i, fComment = 0;
+    Io_MvReplaceBuffersByShorts( p->pBuffer );
+
     // parse the buffer into lines and remove comments
     Vec_PtrPush( p->vLines, p->pBuffer );
     for ( pCur = p->pBuffer; *pCur; pCur++ )