diff --git a/src/lammps.cpp b/src/lammps.cpp
index d45a39311b..c5adfbba74 100644
--- a/src/lammps.cpp
+++ b/src/lammps.cpp
@@ -86,6 +86,7 @@ LAMMPS::LAMMPS(int narg, char **arg, MPI_Comm communicator)
 
   suffix = suffix2 = NULL;
   suffix_enable = 0;
+  exename = arg[0];
   packargs = NULL;
   num_package = 0;
   char *rfile = NULL;
diff --git a/src/lammps.h b/src/lammps.h
index 9d8ca954a6..e72768ae30 100644
--- a/src/lammps.h
+++ b/src/lammps.h
@@ -46,6 +46,7 @@ class LAMMPS {
 
   char *suffix,*suffix2;         // suffixes to add to input script style names
   int suffix_enable;             // 1 if suffixes are enabled, 0 if disabled
+  char *exename;                 // pointer to argv[0]
   char ***packargs;              // arguments for cmdline package commands
   int num_package;               // number of cmdline package commands
   int cite_enable;               // 1 if generating log.cite, 0 if disabled