diff --git a/PRIVATE b/PRIVATE
index 72c581038..87d9413e3 160000
--- a/PRIVATE
+++ b/PRIVATE
@@ -1 +1 @@
-Subproject commit 72c58103860e127d37ccf3a06827331de29406ca
+Subproject commit 87d9413e3e1d6a349eb2350e913ecfe6b423c537
diff --git a/src/IO.f90 b/src/IO.f90
index ed075ac64..6c0c3ce29 100644
--- a/src/IO.f90
+++ b/src/IO.f90
@@ -16,7 +16,8 @@ module IO
   private
 
   character(len=*), parameter, public :: &
-    IO_WHITESPACE = achar(44)//achar(32)//achar(9)//achar(10)//achar(13)                            !< whitespace characters
+    IO_WHITESPACE = achar(44)//achar(32)//achar(9)//achar(10)//achar(13), &                         !< whitespace characters
+    IO_QUOTES  = "'"//'"'
   character, parameter, public :: &
     IO_EOL = new_line('DAMASK'), &                                                                  !< end of line character
     IO_COMMENT = '#'
diff --git a/src/YAML_parse.f90 b/src/YAML_parse.f90
index 4043fb6eb..ae19230a6 100644
--- a/src/YAML_parse.f90
+++ b/src/YAML_parse.f90
@@ -125,7 +125,7 @@ integer function find_end(str,e_char)
   N_cu = 0
   i = 1
   do while(i<=len_trim(str))
-    if (str(i:i) == '"' .or. str(i:i) == "'") i = i + scan(str(i+1:),str(i:i))
+    if (scan(str(i:i),IO_QUOTES) == 1)  i = i + scan(str(i+1:),str(i:i))
     if (N_sq==0 .and. N_cu==0 .and. scan(str(i:i),e_char//',') == 1) exit
     N_sq = N_sq + merge(1,0,str(i:i) == '[')
     N_cu = N_cu + merge(1,0,str(i:i) == '{')
@@ -147,9 +147,9 @@ logical function quotedString(line)
 
   quotedString = .false.
 
-  if (line(1:1) == '"' .or. line(1:1) == "'") then
+  if (scan(line(:1),IO_QUOTES) == 1) then
     quotedString = .true.
-    if(line(len(line):len(line)) /= line(1:1)) call IO_error(710,ext_msg=line)
+    if(line(len(line):len(line)) /= line(:1)) call IO_error(710,ext_msg=line)
   endif
 
 end function quotedString
@@ -382,7 +382,7 @@ subroutine list_item_inline(blck,s_blck,inline)    !ToDo: SR: merge with remove_
     indent_next = indentDepth(blck(s_blck:))
   enddo
 
-  if(scan(inline,",") > 0) inline = '"'//inline//'"'     ! ToDO: SR: Parse as string and not multiple list items. To be added later 
+  if(scan(inline,",") > 0) inline = '"'//inline//'"' 
 
 end subroutine list_item_inline