diff --git a/examples/lih_VK1/GEOM b/examples/lih_VK1/GEOM
index 7d9c96e..878ab59 100644
--- a/examples/lih_VK1/GEOM
+++ b/examples/lih_VK1/GEOM
@@ -1,2 +1,2 @@
-Li 0. 0. -1.5
-H 0. 0. 1.5
+Li  0.    0. -1.5
+H   0.    0.  1.5
diff --git a/src/libio/read.cpp b/src/libio/read.cpp
index fd99842..1e0e456 100644
--- a/src/libio/read.cpp
+++ b/src/libio/read.cpp
@@ -2547,7 +2547,10 @@ int read_input(string filename, bool gbasis, vector<vector<double> >& basis, vec
   while (!infile.eof())
   {
     (bool)getline(infile, line);
-    vector<string> tok_line = split1(line,' ');
+    vector<string> tok_line_raw = split1(line, ' ');
+    vector<string> tok_line;
+    for (const string& t : tok_line_raw)
+      if (!t.empty()) tok_line.push_back(t);
 
     //cout << " 2READ: " << line << endl;
     if (tok_line.size()>3)