diff --git a/src/frontend/parser/lexical.c b/src/frontend/parser/lexical.c
index 1de18b67d..d3ff11a50 100644
--- a/src/frontend/parser/lexical.c
+++ b/src/frontend/parser/lexical.c
@@ -185,13 +185,13 @@ nloop:
 
         if (c != EOF)           /* Don't need to do this really. */
             c = strip(c);
-
+#ifdef QUOTE_CHAR
         /* if '\' or '^', add following character to linebuf */
         if ((c == '\\' && DIR_TERM != '\\') || (c == '\026') /* ^V */ ) {
             c = quote(cp_readchar(&string, cp_inp_cur));
             push(&linebuf, strip(c));
         }
-
+#endif
         /* if reading from fcn backeval() for backquote subst. */
         if ((c == '\n') && cp_bqflag)
             c = ' ';
diff --git a/src/include/ngspice/wordlist.h b/src/include/ngspice/wordlist.h
index 6fa8f6633..da935d5e8 100644
--- a/src/include/ngspice/wordlist.h
+++ b/src/include/ngspice/wordlist.h
@@ -34,12 +34,16 @@ wordlist *wl_chop_rest(wordlist *wlist);
 wordlist *wl_find(const char *string, const wordlist *wlist);
 void wl_delete_slice(wordlist *from, wordlist *to);
 
-
+#ifdef QUOTE_CHAR
 /* For quoting individual characters. '' strings are all quoted, but
  * `` and "" strings are maintained as single words with the quotes
  * around them.  Note that this won't work on non-ascii machines.  */
 #define quote(c)    ((c) | 0200)
 #define strip(c)    ((c) & 0177)
+#else
+#define quote(c) (c)
+#define strip(c) (c)
+#endif
 
 
 #endif