diff --git a/src/velocity.cpp b/src/velocity.cpp
index acc374fa4a..9397e41861 100644
--- a/src/velocity.cpp
+++ b/src/velocity.cpp
@@ -849,15 +849,11 @@ void Velocity::options(int narg, char **arg)
       iarg += 2;
     } else if (strcmp(arg[iarg],"temp") == 0) {
       if (iarg+2 > narg) error->all(FLERR,"Illegal velocity command");
-      int icompute;
-      for (icompute = 0; icompute < modify->ncompute; icompute++)
-        if (strcmp(arg[iarg+1],modify->compute[icompute]->id) == 0) break;
-      if (icompute == modify->ncompute)
-        error->all(FLERR,"Could not find velocity temperature ID");
+      int icompute = modify->find_compute(arg[iarg+1]);
+      if (icompute < 0) error->all(FLERR,"Could not find velocity temperature ID");
       temperature = modify->compute[icompute];
       if (temperature->tempflag == 0)
-        error->all(FLERR,
-                   "Velocity temperature ID does not compute temperature");
+        error->all(FLERR,"Velocity temperature ID does not compute temperature");
       iarg += 2;
     } else if (strcmp(arg[iarg],"bias") == 0) {
       if (iarg+2 > narg) error->all(FLERR,"Illegal velocity command");