diff --git a/elab_expr.cc b/elab_expr.cc
index 8722039c1..e5940801b 100644
--- a/elab_expr.cc
+++ b/elab_expr.cc
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 /*
- * Copyright (c) 1999-2017 Stephen Williams (steve@icarus.com)
+ * Copyright (c) 1999-2018 Stephen Williams (steve@icarus.com)
  * Copyright CERN 2013 / Stephen Williams (steve@icarus.com)
  *
  *    This source code is free software; you can redistribute it
@@ -1456,6 +1456,13 @@ NetExpr* PECallFunction::elaborate_sfunc_(Design*des, NetScope*scope,
 		  return 0;
 	    }
 
+            if (!type_is_vectorable(expr_type_)) {
+	          cerr << get_fileline() << ": error: The argument to "
+		       << name << " must be a vector type." << endl;
+	          des->errors += 1;
+	          return 0;
+            }
+
 	    if (debug_elaborate) {
 		  cerr << get_fileline() << ": PECallFunction::elaborate_sfunc_: "
 		       << name << " expression is the argument cast to expr_wid=" << expr_wid << endl;
diff --git a/vhdlpp/std_funcs.cc b/vhdlpp/std_funcs.cc
index 4e4a992f4..2880bba98 100644
--- a/vhdlpp/std_funcs.cc
+++ b/vhdlpp/std_funcs.cc
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 /*
- * Copyright CERN 2016
+ * Copyright CERN 2016-2018
  * @author Maciej Suminski (maciej.suminski@cern.ch)
  *
  *    This source code is free software; you can redistribute it
@@ -201,7 +201,7 @@ void preload_std_funcs(void)
     args = new list<InterfacePort*>();
     args->push_back(new InterfacePort(&primitive_REAL));
     register_std_subprogram(new SubprogramBuiltin(perm_string::literal("integer"),
-                                           perm_string::literal("$signed"),
+                                           perm_string::literal("int'"),
                                            args, &primitive_INTEGER));
 
     /* function std_logic_vector