diff --git a/src/fix_property_atom.cpp b/src/fix_property_atom.cpp
index 0f86d8abc3..1e583a4ec9 100644
--- a/src/fix_property_atom.cpp
+++ b/src/fix_property_atom.cpp
@@ -254,8 +254,7 @@ void FixPropertyAtom::init()
    id_offset is applied to first atomID field if multiple data files are read
 ------------------------------------------------------------------------- */
 
-void FixPropertyAtom::read_data_section(char *keyword, int n, char *buf,
-                                        tagint id_offset)
+void FixPropertyAtom::read_data_section(char *keyword, int n, char *buf, tagint id_offset)
 {
   int j,k,m,ncol;
   tagint itag;
@@ -280,14 +279,13 @@ void FixPropertyAtom::read_data_section(char *keyword, int n, char *buf,
 
     try {
       ValueTokenizer values(buf);
-      if ((int)values.count() != nvalue+1)
-        error->all(FLERR,"Incorrect format in {} section "
-                                     "of data file: {}",keyword,buf);
+      if ((int)values.count() != values_peratom+1)
+        error->all(FLERR,"Incorrect format in {} section of data file: {}"
+                   " expected {} and got {}",keyword,buf,values_peratom+1,values.count());
 
       itag = values.next_tagint() + id_offset;
       if (itag <= 0 || itag > map_tag_max)
-        error->all(FLERR,"Invalid atom ID {} in {} section of "
-                                     "data file",itag, keyword);
+        error->all(FLERR,"Invalid atom ID {} in {} section of data file",itag, keyword);
 
       // assign words in line to per-atom vectors
 
@@ -303,7 +301,6 @@ void FixPropertyAtom::read_data_section(char *keyword, int n, char *buf,
             atom->ivector[index[j]][m] = values.next_int();
           } else if (style[j] == DVEC) {
             atom->dvector[index[j]][m] = values.next_double();
-          // NOTE: Axel please check these lines of array code
           } else if (style[j] == IARRAY) {
             ncol = cols[j];
             for (k = 0; k < ncol; k++)
@@ -316,8 +313,7 @@ void FixPropertyAtom::read_data_section(char *keyword, int n, char *buf,
         }
       }
     } catch (TokenizerException &e) {
-      error->all(FLERR,"Invalid format in {} section of data "
-                                   "file '{}': {}",keyword, buf,e.what());
+      error->all(FLERR,"Invalid format in {} section of data file '{}': {}",keyword, buf,e.what());
     }
     buf = next + 1;
   }