diff --git a/src/frontend/inpcom.c b/src/frontend/inpcom.c
index da49833cd..244bd2ec0 100644
--- a/src/frontend/inpcom.c
+++ b/src/frontend/inpcom.c
@@ -1242,7 +1242,7 @@ inp_chk_for_multi_in_vcvs(struct line *c, int *line_number)
                  (fcn_b = strstr(line, "or(")) != NULL) &&
                 isspace_c(fcn_b[-1]))
             {
-                struct line *a_card, *model_card, *next_card;
+                struct line *model_card, *next_card;
                 char keep, *comma_ptr, *xy_values1[5], *xy_values2[5];
                 char *out_str, *ctrl_nodes_str, *xy_values1_b, *ref_str, *fcn_name, *fcn_e, *out_b, *out_e, *ref_e;
                 char *m_instance, *m_model;
@@ -1352,10 +1352,9 @@ inp_chk_for_multi_in_vcvs(struct line *c, int *line_number)
 
                 *c->li_line = '*';
                 next_card   = c->li_next;
-                a_card = xx_new_line(NULL, m_instance, (*line_number)++, 0);
-                c->li_next  = a_card;
+                c = c->li_next = xx_new_line(NULL, m_instance, (*line_number)++, 0);
                 model_card = xx_new_line(next_card, m_model, (*line_number)++, 0);
-                a_card->li_next     = model_card;
+                c->li_next = model_card;
                 // skip these two new cards
                 c = model_card;
             }