diff --git a/source/compiler/sc.h b/source/compiler/sc.h
index a2f7936..7b151c4 100644
--- a/source/compiler/sc.h
+++ b/source/compiler/sc.h
@@ -1009,6 +1009,7 @@ SC_VDECL int pc_retexpr;      /* true if the current expression is a part of a "
 SC_VDECL int pc_retheap;      /* heap space (in bytes) to be manually freed when returning an array returned by another function */
 SC_VDECL int pc_nestlevel;    /* number of active (open) compound statements */
 SC_VDECL unsigned int pc_attributes;/* currently set attribute flags (for the "__pragma" operator) */
+SC_VDECL int pc_ispackedstr;  /* true if the last tokenized string is packed */
 
 SC_VDECL char *sc_tokens[];
 
diff --git a/source/compiler/sc1.c b/source/compiler/sc1.c
index aa952d0..ca0a1c4 100644
--- a/source/compiler/sc1.c
+++ b/source/compiler/sc1.c
@@ -8308,8 +8308,11 @@ static void dopragma(void)
   do {
     /* read the option string */
     tok=lex(&val,&str);
-    if (tok!=tSTRING) {
+    if (tok!=tSTRING || !pc_ispackedstr) {
+      /* either not a string, or the user prepended "!" to the option string */
       char tokstr[2];
+      if (tok==tSTRING)
+        tok='!';
       if (tok<tFIRST) {
         sprintf(tokstr,"%c",tok);
         str=tokstr;
@@ -8321,12 +8324,6 @@ static void dopragma(void)
     } /* if */
     assert(litidx>bck_litidx);
 
-    /* the user shouldn't prepend "!" to the option string */
-    if (litq[val]<=UNPACKEDMAX && litq[val]!=0) {
-      error(1,sc_tokens[tSTRING-tFIRST],"!");
-      goto next;
-    } /* if */
-
     /* swap the cell bytes if we're on a Little Endian platform */
 #if BYTE_ORDER==LITTLE_ENDIAN
     { /* local */
diff --git a/source/compiler/sc2.c b/source/compiler/sc2.c
index 7888e5c..fdb2df9 100644
--- a/source/compiler/sc2.c
+++ b/source/compiler/sc2.c
@@ -2415,6 +2415,7 @@ SC_FUNC int lex(cell *lexvalue,char **lexsym)
     if ((stringflags & RAWMODE)!=0)
       lptr+=1;          /* skip "escape" character too */
     lptr=sc_packstr ? packedstring(lptr,&stringflags) : unpackedstring(lptr,&stringflags);
+    pc_ispackedstr=sc_packstr;
     if (*lptr=='\"')
       lptr+=1;          /* skip final quote */
     else if (!(stringflags & STRINGIZE))
@@ -2441,6 +2442,7 @@ SC_FUNC int lex(cell *lexvalue,char **lexsym)
     if ((stringflags & RAWMODE)!=0)
       lptr+=1;          /* skip "escape" character too */
     lptr=sc_packstr ? unpackedstring(lptr,&stringflags) : packedstring(lptr,&stringflags);
+    pc_ispackedstr=!sc_packstr;
     if (*lptr=='\"')
       lptr+=1;          /* skip final quote */
     else if (!(stringflags & STRINGIZE))
diff --git a/source/compiler/scvars.c b/source/compiler/scvars.c
index 41115ce..53158ad 100644
--- a/source/compiler/scvars.c
+++ b/source/compiler/scvars.c
@@ -102,6 +102,7 @@ SC_VDEFINE int pc_retexpr=FALSE;            /* true if the current expression is
 SC_VDEFINE int pc_retheap=0;                /* heap space (in bytes) to be manually freed when returning an array returned by another function */
 SC_VDEFINE int pc_nestlevel=0;              /* number of active (open) compound statements */
 SC_VDEFINE unsigned int pc_attributes=0;    /* currently set attribute flags (for the "__pragma" operator) */
+SC_VDEFINE int pc_ispackedstr=FALSE;        /* true if the last tokenized string is packed */
 
 SC_VDEFINE char *sc_tokens[] = {
   "*=", "/=", "%=", "+=", "-=", "<<=", ">>>=", ">>=", "&=", "^=", "|=",