diff --git a/src/atom.cpp b/src/atom.cpp
index 9ab5da5992..bf791b8c35 100644
--- a/src/atom.cpp
+++ b/src/atom.cpp
@@ -1058,6 +1058,7 @@ void Atom::data_atoms(int n, char *buf, tagint id_offset, tagint mol_offset,
   double *coord;
   char *next;
 
+  // use the first line to detect and validate the number of words/tokens per line
   next = strchr(buf,'\n');
   *next = '\0';
   int nwords = utils::trim_and_count_words(buf);
@@ -1066,8 +1067,6 @@ void Atom::data_atoms(int n, char *buf, tagint id_offset, tagint mol_offset,
   if (nwords != avec->size_data_atom && nwords != avec->size_data_atom + 3)
     error->all(FLERR,"Incorrect atom format in data file");
 
-  char **values = new char*[nwords];
-
   // set bounds for my proc
   // if periodic and I am lo/hi proc, adjust bounds by EPSILON
   // insures all data atoms will be owned even with round-off
@@ -1138,21 +1137,16 @@ void Atom::data_atoms(int n, char *buf, tagint id_offset, tagint mol_offset,
 
   for (int i = 0; i < n; i++) {
     next = strchr(buf,'\n');
-
-    for (m = 0; m < nwords; m++) {
-      buf += strspn(buf," \t\n\r\f");
-      buf[strcspn(buf," \t\n\r\f")] = '\0';
-      if (strlen(buf) == 0)
-        error->all(FLERR,"Incorrect atom format in data file");
-      values[m] = buf;
-      buf += strlen(buf)+1;
-    }
+    *next = '\0';
+    auto values = Tokenizer(utils::trim_comment(buf)).as_vector();
+    if (values.size() != nwords)
+      error->all(FLERR, "Incorrect atom format in data file: {}", utils::trim(buf));
 
     int imx = 0, imy = 0, imz = 0;
     if (imageflag) {
-      imx = utils::inumeric(FLERR,values[iptr],false,lmp);
-      imy = utils::inumeric(FLERR,values[iptr+1],false,lmp);
-      imz = utils::inumeric(FLERR,values[iptr+2],false,lmp);
+      imx = utils::inumeric(FLERR,values[iptr].c_str(),false,lmp);
+      imy = utils::inumeric(FLERR,values[iptr+1].c_str(),false,lmp);
+      imz = utils::inumeric(FLERR,values[iptr+2].c_str(),false,lmp);
       if ((domain->dimension == 2) && (imz != 0))
         error->all(FLERR,"Z-direction image flag must be 0 for 2d-systems");
       if ((!domain->xperiodic) && (imx != 0)) { reset_image_flag[0] = true; imx = 0; }
@@ -1163,9 +1157,9 @@ void Atom::data_atoms(int n, char *buf, tagint id_offset, tagint mol_offset,
         (((imageint) (imy + IMGMAX) & IMGMASK) << IMGBITS) |
         (((imageint) (imz + IMGMAX) & IMGMASK) << IMG2BITS);
 
-    xdata[0] = utils::numeric(FLERR,values[xptr],false,lmp);
-    xdata[1] = utils::numeric(FLERR,values[xptr+1],false,lmp);
-    xdata[2] = utils::numeric(FLERR,values[xptr+2],false,lmp);
+    xdata[0] = utils::numeric(FLERR,values[xptr].c_str(),false,lmp);
+    xdata[1] = utils::numeric(FLERR,values[xptr+1].c_str(),false,lmp);
+    xdata[2] = utils::numeric(FLERR,values[xptr+2].c_str(),false,lmp);
     if (shiftflag) {
       xdata[0] += shift[0];
       xdata[1] += shift[1];
@@ -1193,7 +1187,6 @@ void Atom::data_atoms(int n, char *buf, tagint id_offset, tagint mol_offset,
 
     buf = next + 1;
   }
-  delete [] values;
 }
 
 /* ----------------------------------------------------------------------
diff --git a/src/atom_vec.cpp b/src/atom_vec.cpp
index 5ebaf41ebb..cfecfa4d48 100644
--- a/src/atom_vec.cpp
+++ b/src/atom_vec.cpp
@@ -1707,7 +1707,7 @@ void AtomVec::create_atom(int itype, double *coord)
    initialize other peratom quantities
 ------------------------------------------------------------------------- */
 
-void AtomVec::data_atom(double *coord, imageint imagetmp, char **values)
+void AtomVec::data_atom(double *coord, imageint imagetmp, const std::vector<std::string> &values)
 {
   int m,n,datatype,cols;
   void *pdata;
@@ -1732,7 +1732,7 @@ void AtomVec::data_atom(double *coord, imageint imagetmp, char **values)
     if (datatype == Atom::DOUBLE) {
       if (cols == 0) {
         double *vec = *((double **) pdata);
-        vec[nlocal] = utils::numeric(FLERR,values[ivalue++],true,lmp);
+        vec[nlocal] = utils::numeric(FLERR,values[ivalue++].c_str(),true,lmp);
       } else {
         double **array = *((double ***) pdata);
         if (array == atom->x) {      // x was already set by coord arg
@@ -1740,25 +1740,25 @@ void AtomVec::data_atom(double *coord, imageint imagetmp, char **values)
           continue;
         }
         for (m = 0; m < cols; m++)
-          array[nlocal][m] = utils::numeric(FLERR,values[ivalue++],true,lmp);
+          array[nlocal][m] = utils::numeric(FLERR,values[ivalue++].c_str(),true,lmp);
       }
     } else if (datatype == Atom::INT) {
       if (cols == 0) {
         int *vec = *((int **) pdata);
-        vec[nlocal] = utils::inumeric(FLERR,values[ivalue++],true,lmp);
+        vec[nlocal] = utils::inumeric(FLERR,values[ivalue++].c_str(),true,lmp);
       } else {
         int **array = *((int ***) pdata);
         for (m = 0; m < cols; m++)
-          array[nlocal][m] = utils::inumeric(FLERR,values[ivalue++],true,lmp);
+          array[nlocal][m] = utils::inumeric(FLERR,values[ivalue++].c_str(),true,lmp);
       }
     } else if (datatype == Atom::BIGINT) {
       if (cols == 0) {
         bigint *vec = *((bigint **) pdata);
-        vec[nlocal] = utils::bnumeric(FLERR,values[ivalue++],true,lmp);
+        vec[nlocal] = utils::bnumeric(FLERR,values[ivalue++].c_str(),true,lmp);
       } else {
         bigint **array = *((bigint ***) pdata);
         for (m = 0; m < cols; m++)
-          array[nlocal][m] = utils::bnumeric(FLERR,values[ivalue++],true,lmp);
+          array[nlocal][m] = utils::bnumeric(FLERR,values[ivalue++].c_str(),true,lmp);
       }
     }
   }
diff --git a/src/atom_vec.h b/src/atom_vec.h
index 0a86d1122c..cbc270aefe 100644
--- a/src/atom_vec.h
+++ b/src/atom_vec.h
@@ -124,7 +124,7 @@ class AtomVec : protected Pointers {
   virtual void create_atom(int, double *);
   virtual void create_atom_post(int) {}
 
-  virtual void data_atom(double *, imageint, char **);
+  virtual void data_atom(double *, imageint, const std::vector<std::string> &);
   virtual void data_atom_post(int) {}
   virtual void data_atom_bonus(int, char **) {}
   virtual void data_body(int, int, int, int *, double *) {}