From 5e73be130a9aaeed596b9f2e8d79648da51b1a72 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Holger Vogt <holger.vogt@uni-due.de>
Date: Sun, 4 Jun 2023 14:53:38 +0200
Subject: [PATCH] Allow ';' also at the beginning of a line.

---
 src/frontend/inpcom.c | 8 ++++++--
 1 file changed, 6 insertions(+), 2 deletions(-)

diff --git a/src/frontend/inpcom.c b/src/frontend/inpcom.c
index d9d927bae..a4b157de3 100644
--- a/src/frontend/inpcom.c
+++ b/src/frontend/inpcom.c
@@ -8349,14 +8349,14 @@ static void inp_check_syntax(struct card *deck)
         if (*cut_line == '*' || *cut_line == '\0')
             continue;
         // check for unusable leading characters and change them to '*'
-        if (strchr("=[]?()&%$\"!:,\f;", *cut_line)) {
+        if (strchr("=[]?()&%$\"!:,\f", *cut_line)) {
             if (ft_stricterror) {
                 fprintf(stderr, "Error: '%c' is not allowed as first character in line %s.\n", *cut_line, cut_line);
                 controlled_exit(EXIT_BAD);
             }
             else {
                 if (!check_ch) {
-                    fprintf(stderr, "Warning: Unusual leading characters like '%c' or others out of '= [] ? () & %% $\"!:,;\\f'\n", *cut_line);
+                    fprintf(stderr, "Warning: Unusual leading characters like '%c' or others out of '= [] ? () & %% $\"!:,\\f'\n", *cut_line);
                     fprintf(stderr, "    in netlist or included files, will be replaced with '*'.\n");
                     fprintf(stderr, "    Check line no %d:  %s\n\n", card->linenum_orig, cut_line);
                     check_ch = 1; /* just one warning */
@@ -8364,6 +8364,10 @@ static void inp_check_syntax(struct card *deck)
                 *cut_line = '*';
             }
         }
+        /* leading end-of-line delimiter ';' silently change to '*' */
+        else if (*cut_line == ';') {
+            *cut_line = '*';
+        }
         // check for .control ... .endc
         if (ciprefix(".control", cut_line)) {
             if (check_control > 0) {