diff --git a/src/xinit.c b/src/xinit.c
index abfa376a..3e101fad 100644
--- a/src/xinit.c
+++ b/src/xinit.c
@@ -2425,7 +2425,10 @@ int Tcl_AppInit(Tcl_Interp *inter)
     char f[PATH_MAX];
 
 #ifdef __unix__
-   if(cli_opt_filename[0] == '~' && cli_opt_filename[1] == '/') {
+   if(strstr(cli_opt_filename, "http://") == cli_opt_filename ||
+      strstr(cli_opt_filename, "https://") == cli_opt_filename) {
+     my_snprintf(f, S(f), "%s", cli_opt_filename);
+   } else if(cli_opt_filename[0] == '~' && cli_opt_filename[1] == '/') {
      my_snprintf(f, S(f), "%s%s", home_dir, cli_opt_filename + 1);
    } else if(cli_opt_filename[0] == '.' && cli_opt_filename[1] == '/') {
      my_snprintf(f, S(f), "%s%s", pwd_dir, cli_opt_filename + 1);
diff --git a/src/xschem.tcl b/src/xschem.tcl
index 42b7ae05..87cb3617 100644
--- a/src/xschem.tcl
+++ b/src/xschem.tcl
@@ -2497,7 +2497,7 @@ proc load_file_dialog_up {dir} {
 proc myload_getresult {loadfile confirm_overwrt} {
   global myload_dir1 myload_retval myload_ext
   if { $myload_retval ne {}} {
-    if { [regexp {^http[s]?://} $myload_retval] } {
+    if { [regexp {^https?://} $myload_retval] } {
       set fname $myload_retval
     } elseif { [regexp {^/} $myload_retval]} {
       set fname $myload_retval
@@ -4456,7 +4456,6 @@ proc rel_sym_path {symbol} {
 ## given a library/symbol return its absolute path
 proc abs_sym_path {fname {ext {} } } {
   global pathlist OS
-
   set  curr_dirname [xschem get current_dirname]
   ## empty: do nothing
   if {$fname eq {} } return {}
@@ -4464,6 +4463,10 @@ proc abs_sym_path {fname {ext {} } } {
   if { $ext ne {} } { 
     set fname [file rootname $fname]$ext
   }
+  # web url: return as is
+  if { [regexp {^https?://} $fname]} { 
+     return "$fname"
+  }
   if {$OS eq "Windows"} {
     ## absolute path: return as is
     if { [regexp {^[A-Za-z]\:/} $fname ] } {