diff --git a/DESCRIPTION b/DESCRIPTION
index 2a00c14..9fb8809 100644
--- a/DESCRIPTION
+++ b/DESCRIPTION
@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@ Package: PivotalR
 Type: Package
 Title: R front-end to PostgreSQL and Pivotal (Greenplum) database,
         wrapper for MADlib
-Version: 0.1.15.35
+Version: 0.1.15.36
 Date: 2014-03-10
 Author: Predictive Analytics Team at Pivotal Inc. <user@madlib.net>,
         with contributions from Data Scientist Team at Pivotal Inc.
diff --git a/R/utility-generic.R b/R/utility-generic.R
index a930f03..9b1421c 100644
--- a/R/utility-generic.R
+++ b/R/utility-generic.R
@@ -201,7 +201,7 @@ arraydb.to.arrayr <- function (str, type = "double", n = 1)
     fstr <- f.str[1]
     fstr <- .gsub("as\\.factor\\((((?!as\\.factor).)*)\\)", "factor(\\1)",
                  fstr, perl = T)
-    fstr <- .gsub("factor\\((((?!as\\.factor).)*)\\)", "as.factor(\\1)",
+    fstr <- .gsub("([^\\.]|^)factor\\((((?!as\\.factor).)*)\\)", "\\1as.factor(\\2)",
                  fstr, perl = T)
 
     f2 <- f.str[2] # grouping columns, might be NA
@@ -432,11 +432,13 @@ arraydb.to.arrayr <- function (str, type = "double", n = 1)
     }
 }
 
+## ----------------------------------------------------------------------
+
 .replace.colon <- function(s)
 {
-    r <- .gsub("\\[(\\d+):(\\d+)\\]", "[\\1@\\2]", s)
+    r <- .gsub("(\\d+)\\s*:\\s*(\\d+)", "\\1@\\2", s)
     r <- gsub(":", "*", r, perl = T)
-    r <- .gsub("\\[(\\d+)@(\\d+)\\]", "[\\1:\\2]", r)
+    r <- .gsub("(\\d+)@(\\d+)", "\\1:\\2", r)
     r
 }