diff --git a/src/modules/punk-0.1.tm b/src/modules/punk-0.1.tm
index 85cbfa5d..9a390773 100644
--- a/src/modules/punk-0.1.tm
+++ b/src/modules/punk-0.1.tm
@@ -320,6 +320,84 @@ namespace eval punk {
     proc splitstrposn_nonzero {s p} {
             scan $s %${p}s%s
     }
+    proc _split_patterns {varspecs} {
+        set varlist [list]
+        set var_terminals [list "@" "/" "#"]
+        #except when prefixed directly by pin classifier ^
+        set protect_terminals [list "^"]   ;# e.g sequence ^# 
+        #also - an atom usually doesn't need the / as a terminal - because it can't match a missing element unless it's empty string
+        #ie the one usecase is '/n    to match either empty string or missing item at position n. For this one usecase - we miss the capability to atom match paths/urls .. '/usr/local/et'
+        set in_brackets 0
+        set in_atom 0
+        #set varspecs [string trimleft $varspecs ,]
+        set token ""
+        #if {[string first "," $varspecs] <0} {
+        #    return $varspecs
+        #}
+        set first_term -1
+        set token_index 0 ;#index of terminal char within each token
+        set prevc ""
+        set char_index 0
+        foreach c [split $varspecs ""] {
+            if {$in_atom} {
+                append token $c
+                #set nextc [lindex $chars $char_index+1]
+                if {$c eq "'"} {
+                    set in_atom 0
+                }
+            } elseif {$in_brackets} {
+                append token $c
+                if {$c eq ")"} {
+                    set in_brackets 0
+                }
+            } else {
+                if {$c eq ","} {
+                    #lappend varlist [splitstrposn $token $first_term]
+                    set var $token
+                    set spec  ""
+                    if {$first_term > 0} {
+                         lassign [scan $token %${first_term}s%s] var spec
+                    } else {
+                        if {$first_term == 0} {
+                            set var ""
+                            set spec $token
+                        }
+                    }
+                    lappend varlist [list $var $spec]
+                    set token ""
+                    set token_index -1 ;#reduce by 1 because , not included in next token
+                    set first_term -1
+                } else {
+                    append token $c
+                    if {$first_term == -1 && (($c in $var_terminals) && ($prevc ni $protect_terminals))} {
+                        set first_term $token_index         
+                    } elseif {$c eq "'"} {
+                        set in_atom 1
+                    } elseif {$c eq "("} {
+                        set in_brackets 1 
+                    }
+                }
+            }
+            set prevc $c
+            incr token_index
+            incr char_index
+        }
+        if {[string length $token]} {
+            #lappend varlist [splitstrposn $token $first_term]
+            set var $token
+            set spec  ""
+            if {$first_term > 0} {
+                    lassign [scan $token %${first_term}s%s] var spec
+            } else {
+                if {$first_term == 0} {
+                    set var ""
+                    set spec $token
+                }
+            }
+            lappend varlist [list $var $spec]
+        }
+        return $varlist
+    }
     proc _split_var_key_at_unbracketed_comma {varspecs} {
         set varlist [list]
         set var_terminals [list "@" "/" "#"]
@@ -827,7 +905,9 @@ namespace eval punk {
         #but also for list and dict subelement access 
         #/ normally indicates some sort of hierarchical separation - (e.g in filesytems)
         #so / will indicate subelements e.g @0/1 for lindex $list 0 1
-        set valsource_key_list [_split_var_key_at_unbracketed_comma $multivar]
+        #set valsource_key_list [_split_var_key_at_unbracketed_comma $multivar]
+        set valsource_key_list [_split_patterns $multivar]
+
 
         #first classify into var_returntype of either "pipeline"  or "segment"
         #segment returntype is indicated by leading %
@@ -1288,6 +1368,9 @@ namespace eval punk {
             if {$isatom} {
                #puts stdout "==>isatom $lhsspec"
                set lhs [string range $lhsspec 1 end]
+               if {[string index $lhs end] eq "'"} {
+                set lhs [string range $lhs 0 end-1]
+               }
                if {$act eq "?set"} {
                     lset var_actions $i 1 matchatom-set
                     if {$lhs eq $val} {