diff --git a/spec/KBFuncs.nlp b/spec/KBFuncs.nlp
index 4c69f88..beb315e 100644
--- a/spec/KBFuncs.nlp
+++ b/spec/KBFuncs.nlp
@@ -117,13 +117,14 @@ CountName(L("con"),L("root")) {
 }
 
 StripEndDigits(L("name")) {
+	# "item12" -> "item".  A name with no trailing digits comes back whole,
+	# an all-digit name gives 0.  Positions only count up from 0, so a short
+	# name never reaches a negative strpiece position (which counts from the
+	# end since engine 4.2.15).
 	if (strisdigit(L("name"))) return 0;
-	L("len") = strlength(L("name")) - 1;
-	L("i") = L("len") - 1;
-	L("str") = strpiece(L("name"),L("i"),L("len"));
-	while (strisdigit(L("str")) && L("i")) {
+	L("i") = strlength(L("name")) - 1;
+	while (L("i") > 0 && strisdigit(strpiece(L("name"),L("i"),L("i")))) {
 		L("i")--;
-		L("str") = strpiece(L("name"),L("i"),L("len"));
 	}
 	return strpiece(L("name"),0,L("i"));
 }
diff --git a/spec/funs.nlp b/spec/funs.nlp
index 496eb30..c34dbfc 100644
--- a/spec/funs.nlp
+++ b/spec/funs.nlp
@@ -2037,8 +2037,11 @@ if (L("field"))
 	  else if (L("tot") > G("MAX"))	# TRACK AND LIMIT.
 	    {
 		L("del") = G("MAX") - G("LEN");
-		L("xx") = strpiece(L("txt"),0,L("del")-1);
-		L("str") = L("str") + L("xx");
+		if (L("del") > 0)	# A 0 end of -1 would take the whole text.
+		  {
+		  L("xx") = strpiece(L("txt"),0,L("del")-1);
+		  L("str") = L("str") + L("xx");
+		  }
 		G("LEN") = G("MAX");	# TRACK AND LIMIT.
 		return L("str");
 		}
@@ -2093,8 +2096,8 @@ else if (L("ch") != "_" || L("nm") == "_")  # Literal. Alpha, num, punct, etc.
 	else if (L("tot") > G("MAX"))	# HUGE TOKEN!
 	  {
 		L("del") = G("MAX") - G("LEN");
-		L("xx") = strpiece(L("nm"),0,L("del")-1);
-		L("str") = L("xx");
+		if (L("del") > 0)	# A 0 end of -1 would take the whole token.
+		  L("str") = strpiece(L("nm"),0,L("del")-1);
 		G("LEN") = G("MAX");	# TRACK AND LIMIT.
 		return L("str");
 	  }