diff --git a/Global.cpp b/Global.cpp
index 46f4a98..c580ae2 100644
--- a/Global.cpp
+++ b/Global.cpp
@@ -37,6 +37,13 @@ namespace jet {
       sessions.erase(sessionId);
    }
 
+   coreutils::MString& Global::processModifier(coreutils::MString &value, coreutils::MString &modifier) {
+      if(modifier.getLength() == 0)
+	return value;
+      lastConverted = modifier;
+      return lastConverted;
+   }
+   
    coreutils::ZString Global::getVariable(coreutils::ZString &variable, std::map<coreutils::ZString, coreutils::MString> &lvariables) {
       if(variable.ifNext("$[")) {
 	 coreutils::MString name;
@@ -54,8 +61,9 @@ namespace jet {
 	 } else {
 	    renderVariableName(variable, name, modifier, lvariables);
 	    name.split(".");
-	    if(name.getList().size() == 1)
-	      return variables[name[0]];
+	    if(name.getList().size() == 1) {	 
+	       return processModifier(variables[name[0]], modifier);
+	    }	    
 	    return getSessionVariable(name);
 	 }
 	 throw coreutils::Exception("expected variable name or type designator.");	 
diff --git a/Global.h b/Global.h
index dcb147f..9a055e3 100644
--- a/Global.h
+++ b/Global.h
@@ -18,6 +18,7 @@ namespace  jet {
       bool sessionExists(coreutils::MString sessionId);
       void addSession(coreutils::MString sessionId, __mysql *mysql);
       void removeSession(coreutils::MString sessionId);
+      coreutils::MString& processModifier(coreutils::MString &value, coreutils::MString &modifier);
       coreutils::ZString getVariable(coreutils::ZString &variable, std::map<coreutils::ZString, coreutils::MString> &lvariables);
       void renderVariableName(coreutils::ZString &variable, coreutils::MString &name, coreutils::MString &modifier, std::map<coreutils::ZString, coreutils::MString> &lvariables);
       __mysql * getSession(coreutils::MString sessionId);
@@ -29,6 +30,7 @@ namespace  jet {
       std::map<coreutils::MString, __mysql *> sessions;
       std::map<coreutils::MString, coreutils::MString> headers;
       std::map<coreutils::MString, coreutils::MString> tags;
+      coreutils::MString lastConverted; 
       
    };
 
diff --git a/Tag.cpp b/Tag.cpp
index 00a0ce3..1571999 100644
--- a/Tag.cpp
+++ b/Tag.cpp
@@ -31,7 +31,7 @@ namespace jet {
    Tag::Tag(coreutils::ZString &in, coreutils::MString &parentOut, Global &global, Tag *parent, coreutils::ZString splitTagName)
      : ZString(in), parentOut(parentOut), global(global), parent(parent) {
 	this->splitTagName = splitTagName;
-	if(in.ifNext("<")) {
+	if(parent && in.ifNext("<")) {
 	   name = in.getTokenInclude("ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZabcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz0123456789-_!");
 	   if(in.startsWith(" ") || in.startsWith("/") || in.startsWith(">")) {
 	      bool finished = false;
diff --git a/Tag.h b/Tag.h
index 4b96f78..4108356 100644
--- a/Tag.h
+++ b/Tag.h
@@ -11,7 +11,7 @@ namespace jet {
    class Tag : public coreutils::ZString {
 
     public:
-      Tag(coreutils::ZString &in, coreutils::MString &parentOut, Global &global, Tag *parent, coreutils::ZString splitTagName = "");
+      Tag(coreutils::ZString &in, coreutils::MString &parentOut, Global &global, Tag *parent = NULL, coreutils::ZString splitTagName = "");
       virtual ~Tag();
 
       void resolveKeyword(coreutils::ZString keyword);
@@ -41,6 +41,7 @@ namespace jet {
       bool cleanWhitespace = false;
 
     private:
+      bool containerOnly = false;
       coreutils::ZString splitTagName;
 
       int skipBlankLine(coreutils::ZString in);
diff --git a/tests/testvar.jet b/tests/testvar.jet
index 7fecba4..b58f703 100755
--- a/tests/testvar.jet
+++ b/tests/testvar.jet
@@ -1,15 +1,14 @@
 #!../jet-2.0
- <set name="ix" value="1" />
+<set name="ix" value="1" />
 <set name="letterx" value="x" />
 <set name="var$[ix]" value="this is a test $[ix]" />
 <set name="1var1" value="This is another test" />
 <set name="var1var" value="Yet another test" />
 <set name="var11" value="it seems to work." />
-$[$[ix]var$[ix]]
+$[$[ix]var$[ix];binary]
 $[var$[ix]]
 $[var$[ix]var]
 $[var$[i$[letterx]]var]
 $[letterx;TOHEX]
 $[var$[i$[letterx]]$[ix]]
 $[var$[i$[letterx]]$[i$[letterx]]]
-