diff --git a/src/RIGID/fix_rigid_small.cpp b/src/RIGID/fix_rigid_small.cpp
index 89fa3add4b..d3a2491048 100644
--- a/src/RIGID/fix_rigid_small.cpp
+++ b/src/RIGID/fix_rigid_small.cpp
@@ -2489,7 +2489,7 @@ void FixRigidSmall::readfile(int which, double **array, int *inbody)
     buf = buffer;
     next = strchr(buf,'\n');
     *next = '\0';
-    int nwords = utils::count_words(buf);
+    int nwords = utils::trim_and_count_words(buf);
     *next = '\n';
 
     if (nwords != ATTRIBUTE_PERBODY)
diff --git a/src/SNAP/pair_snap.cpp b/src/SNAP/pair_snap.cpp
index 7108e62142..389fde28a0 100644
--- a/src/SNAP/pair_snap.cpp
+++ b/src/SNAP/pair_snap.cpp
@@ -568,7 +568,7 @@ void PairSNAP::read_files(char *coefffilename, char *paramfilename)
     MPI_Bcast(&n,1,MPI_INT,0,world);
     MPI_Bcast(line,n,MPI_CHAR,0,world);
 
-    nwords = utils::count_words(line);
+    nwords = utils::trim_and_count_words(line);
     if (nwords != 3)
       error->all(FLERR,"Incorrect format in SNAP coefficient file");
 
@@ -610,7 +610,7 @@ void PairSNAP::read_files(char *coefffilename, char *paramfilename)
       MPI_Bcast(&n,1,MPI_INT,0,world);
       MPI_Bcast(line,n,MPI_CHAR,0,world);
 
-      nwords = utils::count_words(line);
+      nwords = utils::trim_and_count_words(line);
       if (nwords != 1)
         error->all(FLERR,"Incorrect format in SNAP coefficient file");
 
diff --git a/src/SPIN/neb_spin.cpp b/src/SPIN/neb_spin.cpp
index 5d58a22567..168e288181 100644
--- a/src/SPIN/neb_spin.cpp
+++ b/src/SPIN/neb_spin.cpp
@@ -441,7 +441,7 @@ void NEBSpin::readfile(char *file, int flag)
     buf = buffer;
     next = strchr(buf,'\n');
     *next = '\0';
-    int nwords = utils::count_words(buf);
+    int nwords = utils::trim_and_count_words(buf);
     *next = '\n';
 
     if (nwords != ATTRIBUTE_PERLINE)
diff --git a/src/atom.cpp b/src/atom.cpp
index 134def74a3..5ba3cb23ff 100644
--- a/src/atom.cpp
+++ b/src/atom.cpp
@@ -1089,7 +1089,7 @@ void Atom::data_atoms(int n, char *buf, tagint id_offset, tagint mol_offset,
 
   next = strchr(buf,'\n');
   *next = '\0';
-  int nwords = utils::count_words(buf);
+  int nwords = utils::trim_and_count_words(buf);
   *next = '\n';
 
   if (nwords != avec->size_data_atom && nwords != avec->size_data_atom + 3)
@@ -1239,7 +1239,7 @@ void Atom::data_vels(int n, char *buf, tagint id_offset)
 
   next = strchr(buf,'\n');
   *next = '\0';
-  int nwords = utils::count_words(buf);
+  int nwords = utils::trim_and_count_words(buf);
   *next = '\n';
 
   if (nwords != avec->size_data_vel)
@@ -1591,7 +1591,7 @@ void Atom::data_bonus(int n, char *buf, AtomVec *avec_bonus, tagint id_offset)
 
   next = strchr(buf,'\n');
   *next = '\0';
-  int nwords = utils::count_words(buf);
+  int nwords = utils::trim_and_count_words(buf);
   *next = '\n';
 
   if (nwords != avec_bonus->size_data_bonus)
diff --git a/src/fix_property_atom.cpp b/src/fix_property_atom.cpp
index 5fb17ca636..372156b5c5 100644
--- a/src/fix_property_atom.cpp
+++ b/src/fix_property_atom.cpp
@@ -218,7 +218,7 @@ void FixPropertyAtom::read_data_section(char *keyword, int n, char *buf,
 
   next = strchr(buf,'\n');
   *next = '\0';
-  int nwords = utils::count_words(buf);
+  int nwords = utils::trim_and_count_words(buf);
   *next = '\n';
 
   if (nwords != nvalue+1) {
diff --git a/src/fix_tmd.cpp b/src/fix_tmd.cpp
index 182da8ecaa..00fdfb41ad 100644
--- a/src/fix_tmd.cpp
+++ b/src/fix_tmd.cpp
@@ -447,12 +447,12 @@ void FixTMD::readfile(char *file)
           zprd = hi - lo;
           bufptr = next + 1;
           continue;
-        } else if (utils::count_words(bufptr) == 4) {
+        } else if (utils::trim_and_count_words(bufptr) == 4) {
           if (xprd >= 0.0 || yprd >= 0.0 || zprd >= 0.0)
             error->all(FLERR,"Incorrect format in TMD target file");
           imageflag = 0;
           firstline = 0;
-        } else if (utils::count_words(bufptr) == 7) {
+        } else if (utils::trim_and_count_words(bufptr) == 7) {
           if (xprd < 0.0 || yprd < 0.0 || zprd < 0.0)
             error->all(FLERR,"Incorrect format in TMD target file");
           imageflag = 1;
diff --git a/src/molecule.cpp b/src/molecule.cpp
index 1f0a9e1601..33d14bfebd 100644
--- a/src/molecule.cpp
+++ b/src/molecule.cpp
@@ -1401,7 +1401,7 @@ void Molecule::body(int flag, int pflag, char *line)
   while (nword < nparam) {
     readline(line);
 
-    ncount = utils::count_words(line);
+    ncount = utils::trim_and_count_words(line);
     if (ncount == 0)
       error->one(FLERR,"Too few values in body section of molecule file");
     if (nword+ncount > nparam)
diff --git a/src/read_data.cpp b/src/read_data.cpp
index edeb6398b8..fdacac8148 100644
--- a/src/read_data.cpp
+++ b/src/read_data.cpp
@@ -1734,7 +1734,7 @@ void ReadData::bodies(int firstpass, AtomVec *ptr)
         while (nword < ninteger) {
           eof = fgets(&buffer[m],MAXLINE,fp);
           if (eof == NULL) error->one(FLERR,"Unexpected end of data file");
-          ncount = utils::count_words(&buffer[m]);
+          ncount = utils::trim_and_count_words(&buffer[m]);
           if (ncount == 0)
             error->one(FLERR,"Too few values in body lines in data file");
           nword += ncount;
@@ -1748,7 +1748,7 @@ void ReadData::bodies(int firstpass, AtomVec *ptr)
         while (nword < ndouble) {
           eof = fgets(&buffer[m],MAXLINE,fp);
           if (eof == NULL) error->one(FLERR,"Unexpected end of data file");
-          ncount = utils::count_words(&buffer[m]);
+          ncount = utils::trim_and_count_words(&buffer[m]);
           if (ncount == 0)
             error->one(FLERR,"Too few values in body lines in data file");
           nword += ncount;
diff --git a/src/reader_native.cpp b/src/reader_native.cpp
index 6cb8096d9c..9f7caa01da 100644
--- a/src/reader_native.cpp
+++ b/src/reader_native.cpp
@@ -162,7 +162,7 @@ bigint ReaderNative::read_header(double box[3][3], int &boxinfo, int &triclinic,
 
   char *labelline = &line[strlen("ITEM: ATOMS ")];
 
-  nwords = utils::count_words(labelline);
+  nwords = utils::trim_and_count_words(labelline);
   char **labels = new char*[nwords];
   labels[0] = strtok(labelline," \t\n\r\f");
   if (labels[0] == NULL) {
diff --git a/src/text_file_reader.cpp b/src/text_file_reader.cpp
index c5913d8c51..7d9bfa1d03 100644
--- a/src/text_file_reader.cpp
+++ b/src/text_file_reader.cpp
@@ -29,7 +29,7 @@
 using namespace LAMMPS_NS;
 
 TextFileReader::TextFileReader(const std::string &filename, const std::string &filetype)
-  : filename(filename), filetype(filetype)
+  : filename(filename), filetype(filetype), ignore_comments(true)
 {
   fp = fopen(filename.c_str(), "r");
 
diff --git a/src/thermo.cpp b/src/thermo.cpp
index 73c915da4a..fcc61be503 100644
--- a/src/thermo.cpp
+++ b/src/thermo.cpp
@@ -160,7 +160,7 @@ Thermo::Thermo(LAMMPS *lmp, int narg, char **arg) : Pointers(lmp)
   // allocate per-field memory
   // process line of keywords
 
-  nfield_initial = utils::count_words(line);
+  nfield_initial = utils::trim_and_count_words(line);
   allocate();
   parse_fields(line);
 
diff --git a/src/utils.cpp b/src/utils.cpp
index acdec2b77b..a423586366 100644
--- a/src/utils.cpp
+++ b/src/utils.cpp
@@ -355,14 +355,22 @@ std::string utils::trim_comment(const std::string & line) {
 }
 
 /* ----------------------------------------------------------------------
-   Trim comment from string and return number of words
+   Return number of words
 ------------------------------------------------------------------------- */
 
 size_t utils::count_words(const std::string & text, const std::string & seperators) {
-  Tokenizer words(utils::trim_comment(text), seperators);
+  ValueTokenizer words(text, seperators);
   return words.count();
 }
 
+/* ----------------------------------------------------------------------
+   Trim comment from string and return number of words
+------------------------------------------------------------------------- */
+
+size_t utils::trim_and_count_words(const std::string & text, const std::string & seperators) {
+  return utils::count_words(utils::trim_comment(text), seperators);
+}
+
 /* ----------------------------------------------------------------------
    Return whether string is a valid integer number
 ------------------------------------------------------------------------- */
diff --git a/src/utils.h b/src/utils.h
index 601ec1a031..977d63a02c 100644
--- a/src/utils.h
+++ b/src/utils.h
@@ -142,13 +142,21 @@ namespace LAMMPS_NS {
      */
     std::string trim_comment(const std::string & line);
 
+    /**
+     * \brief Count words in string
+     * \param text string that should be searched
+     * \param seperators string containing characters that will be treated as whitespace
+     * \return number of words found
+     */
+    size_t count_words(const std::string & text, const std::string & seperators = " \t\r\n\f");
+
     /**
      * \brief Count words in a single line, trim anything from '#' onward
      * \param text string that should be trimmed and searched
      * \param seperators string containing characters that will be treated as whitespace
      * \return number of words found
      */
-    size_t count_words(const std::string & text, const std::string & seperators = " \t\r\n\f");
+    size_t trim_and_count_words(const std::string & text, const std::string & seperators = " \t\r\n\f");
 
     /**
      * \brief Check if string can be converted to valid integer
diff --git a/unittest/utils/test_utils.cpp b/unittest/utils/test_utils.cpp
index 3b83649465..e1c458a173 100644
--- a/unittest/utils/test_utils.cpp
+++ b/unittest/utils/test_utils.cpp
@@ -25,7 +25,11 @@ TEST(Utils, trim_comment) {
 }
 
 TEST(Utils, count_words) {
-    ASSERT_EQ(utils::count_words("some text # comment"), 2);
+    ASSERT_EQ(utils::count_words("some text # comment"), 4);
+}
+
+TEST(Utils, trim_and_count_words) {
+    ASSERT_EQ(utils::trim_and_count_words("some text # comment"), 2);
 }
 
 TEST(Utils, valid_integer1) {