diff --git a/src/main/xlat.c b/src/main/xlat.c
index f91f213bf1e6..c153694e3a23 100644
--- a/src/main/xlat.c
+++ b/src/main/xlat.c
@@ -1010,7 +1010,9 @@ static ssize_t xlat_tokenize_literal(TALLOC_CTX *ctx, char *fmt, xlat_exp_t **he
 			char *c = p;
 
 			while (c) {
-				if (!c[1] || !strchr("%dlmtDGHISTY{", c[1])) {
+				if (c[1] == '{') break; /* this will be checked later */
+
+				if (!c[1] || !strchr("%dlmtDGHISTY", c[1])) {
 					talloc_free(node);
 					*error = "Invalid variable expansion";
 					c++;