diff --git a/bin/feedGnuplot b/bin/feedGnuplot
index 5ff1065..9b76335 100755
--- a/bin/feedGnuplot
+++ b/bin/feedGnuplot
@@ -440,7 +440,7 @@ sub mainThread
     }
 
     # regexp for a possibly floating point, possibly scientific notation number
-    my $numRE   = '[-]?[\d\.]+(?:e[-+]?\d+)?';
+    my $numRE   = '-?\d*\.?\d+(?:[Ee][-+]?\d+)?';
 
     # a point may be preceded by an id
     my $pointRE = $options{dataid} ? '(\w+)\s+' : '()';