diff --git a/Global.cpp b/Global.cpp
index d7c7ca7..6ff9d23 100644
--- a/Global.cpp
+++ b/Global.cpp
@@ -80,7 +80,9 @@ namespace jet {
 	 } else {
 	    renderVariableName(variable, name, modifier, lvariables);
 	    name.split(".");
-	    if(name.getList().size() == 1) {	 
+	    if(name.getList().size() == 1) {
+	       if(variables.find(name[0]) == variables.end())
+		 throw coreutils::Exception("global variable is not initialized.");
 	       return processModifier(variables[name[0]], modifier);
 	    }	    
 	    return getSessionVariable(name);
@@ -90,6 +92,8 @@ namespace jet {
 	 coreutils::MString name;
 	 coreutils::MString modifier;
 	 renderVariableName(variable, name, modifier, lvariables);
+	 if(lvariables.find(name) == lvariables.end())
+	   throw coreutils::Exception("local variable is not initialized.");
 	 return lvariables[name];	 
       }
       throw coreutils::Exception("Expecting a variable initializer ('$[' or '#[').");
diff --git a/tests/testjet.jet b/tests/testjet.jet
index 7cdd5a6..eb588f6 100755
--- a/tests/testjet.jet
+++ b/tests/testjet.jet
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-#!/home/barant/Development/JetCore/jet-2.0
+#!../jet-2.0
 <jet cgi="true" name1="localname" filterblanklines="true" trimlines="true">
  <header name="Content-Type" value="text/html" />
  <comment>This is a comment and should not show up in the output.</comment>
diff --git a/tests/testvar.jet b/tests/testvar.jet
index 3c79fed..591b836 100755
--- a/tests/testvar.jet
+++ b/tests/testvar.jet
@@ -19,4 +19,5 @@ $[var$[i$[letterx]]$[i$[letterx]]]
 $[ix]
 <set name="ix" expr="$[ix]+1" />
 $[ix]
+#[iy]
 </jet>