diff --git a/lib/com_err/lex.l b/lib/com_err/lex.l
index c817773c0..1eff51d2c 100644
--- a/lib/com_err/lex.l
+++ b/lib/com_err/lex.l
@@ -82,7 +82,7 @@ getstring(void)
     int i = 0;
     int c;
     int quote = 0;
-    while((c = getc(yyin)) != EOF){
+    while((c = input()) != EOF){
 	if(quote) {
 	    x[i++] = c;
 	    quote = 0;