diff --git a/prompt_control/parser.py b/prompt_control/parser.py
index 785bb64..641dd74 100644
--- a/prompt_control/parser.py
+++ b/prompt_control/parser.py
@@ -408,7 +408,6 @@ def expand_macros(text):
             return text
         for search, replace in replacements:
             res = substitute_defcall(res, search, replace)
-            res = substitute_def(res, search, replace)
         if res == prevres:
             break
         prevres = res
@@ -427,10 +426,12 @@ def substitute_def(text, search, replace):
 
 def substitute_defcall(text, search, replace):
     name, default_args = search
-    text, defns = get_function(text, name, defaults=None, placeholder=f"DEFNCALL{search}")
-    for i, defn in enumerate(defns):
-        ph = f"\0DEFNCALL{search}{i}\0"
-        paramvals = [x.strip() for x in defn.split(";")]
+    text, defns = get_function(text, name, defaults=None, placeholder=f"DEFNCALL{name}")
+    for i, parameters in enumerate(defns):
+        ph = f"\0DEFNCALL{name}{i}\0"
+        paramvals = []
+        if parameters is not None:
+            paramvals = [x.strip() for x in parameters.split(";")]
         r = replace
         for i, v in enumerate(paramvals):
             r = re.sub(rf"\${i+1}\b", v, r)
diff --git a/prompt_control/utils.py b/prompt_control/utils.py
index 7650fb5..de3544a 100644
--- a/prompt_control/utils.py
+++ b/prompt_control/utils.py
@@ -88,16 +88,22 @@ def find_closing_paren(text, start):
 
 
 def get_function(text, func, defaults, return_func_name=False, placeholder="", return_dict=False):
-    rex = re.compile(rf"\b{func}\(", re.MULTILINE)
+    rex = re.compile(rf"\b{func}\b", re.MULTILINE)
     instances = []
     match = rex.search(text)
     count = 0
     while match:
         # Match start, content start
-        start, after_first_paren = match.span()
-        funcname = text[start : after_first_paren - 1]
-        end = find_closing_paren(text, after_first_paren)
-        args = parse_strings(text[after_first_paren:end], defaults)
+        start, at_paren = match.span()
+        funcname = text[start:at_paren]
+        after_first_paren = at_paren + 1
+        if text[at_paren:after_first_paren] == "(":
+            end = find_closing_paren(text, after_first_paren)
+            args = parse_strings(text[after_first_paren:end], defaults)
+            end += 1
+        else:
+            end = at_paren
+            args = None
         ph = None
         if placeholder:
             ph = f"\0{placeholder}{count}\0"