diff --git a/lang/cem/cemcom.ansi/replace.c b/lang/cem/cemcom.ansi/replace.c
index 9f7a86503..28873ed94 100644
--- a/lang/cem/cemcom.ansi/replace.c
+++ b/lang/cem/cemcom.ansi/replace.c
@@ -171,7 +171,9 @@ expand_macro(repl, idf)
 		three tokens: + + ID. Therefore a token separator is
 		inserted after the replacement.
 	*/
-	if (*(repl->r_ptr - 1) != TOKSEP) add2repl(repl, TOKSEP);
+	if (repl->r_text == repl->r_ptr || *(repl->r_ptr - 1) != TOKSEP) {
+		add2repl(repl, TOKSEP);
+	}
 	return 1;
 }
 
@@ -665,7 +667,7 @@ macro2buffer(repl, idf, args)
 		    while (*q)
 			add2repl(repl, *q++);
 
-		if (*(repl->r_ptr - 1) != TOKSEP)
+		if (repl->r_text == repl->r_ptr || *(repl->r_ptr - 1) != TOKSEP)
 			add2repl(repl, TOKSEP);
 	    } else {
 		add2repl(repl, *ptr++);
diff --git a/lang/cem/cpp.ansi/replace.c b/lang/cem/cpp.ansi/replace.c
index 02fcd697e..e5aa73d15 100644
--- a/lang/cem/cpp.ansi/replace.c
+++ b/lang/cem/cpp.ansi/replace.c
@@ -160,7 +160,9 @@ expand_macro(repl, idf)
 		three tokens: + + ID. Therefore a token separator is
 		inserted after the replacement.
 	*/
-	if (*(repl->r_ptr -1) != TOKSEP) add2repl(repl, TOKSEP);
+	if (repl->r_text == repl->r_ptr || *(repl->r_ptr -1) != TOKSEP) {
+		add2repl(repl, TOKSEP);
+	}
 	return 1;
 }
 
@@ -651,7 +653,7 @@ macro2buffer(repl, idf, args)
 		    while (*q)
 			add2repl(repl, *q++);
 
-		if (*(repl->r_ptr-1) != TOKSEP)
+		if (repl->r_text == repl->r_ptr || *(repl->r_ptr-1) != TOKSEP)
 			add2repl(repl, TOKSEP);
 	    } else {
 		add2repl(repl, *ptr++);