diff --git a/src/compute.cpp b/src/compute.cpp
index 06f58e817b..578667d76c 100644
--- a/src/compute.cpp
+++ b/src/compute.cpp
@@ -41,7 +41,7 @@ Compute::Compute(LAMMPS *lmp, int narg, char **arg) :
 {
   instance_me = instance_total++;
 
-  if (narg < 3) error->all(FLERR,"Illegal compute command");
+  if (narg < 3) utils::missing_cmd_args(FLERR,"compute", error);
 
   // compute ID, group, and style
   // ID must be all alphanumeric chars or underscores
diff --git a/src/compute_vacf.cpp b/src/compute_vacf.cpp
index 6847c7b5eb..067ac605b0 100644
--- a/src/compute_vacf.cpp
+++ b/src/compute_vacf.cpp
@@ -27,7 +27,7 @@ using namespace LAMMPS_NS;
 ComputeVACF::ComputeVACF(LAMMPS *lmp, int narg, char **arg) :
     Compute(lmp, narg, arg), id_fix(nullptr)
 {
-  if (narg > 2) error->all(FLERR, 3, "Compute vacf does not accept any arguments");
+  if (narg > 3) error->all(FLERR, 3, "Compute vacf does not accept any arguments");
 
   vector_flag = 1;
   size_vector = 4;