diff --git a/src/sbbs3/atcodes.cpp b/src/sbbs3/atcodes.cpp
index e6c658966db830fd0d4ec650f9d41d29a789f7d5..d4181b69aff7ad3a7168be0f5427ab6dbd507975 100644
--- a/src/sbbs3/atcodes.cpp
+++ b/src/sbbs3/atcodes.cpp
@@ -87,6 +87,8 @@ int sbbs_t::show_atcode(const char *instr, JSObject* obj)
 	long	pmode = 0;
 	const char *cp;
 
+	if(*instr != '@')
+		return 0;
 	SAFECOPY(str,instr);
 	tp=strchr(str+1,'@');
 	if(!tp)                 /* no terminating @ */