diff --git a/files/qemu-ifup-public b/files/qemu-ifup-public
index 36e2d27..eea116e 100755
--- a/files/qemu-ifup-public
+++ b/files/qemu-ifup-public
@@ -11,7 +11,7 @@ maxprefixv4=25
 
 if [ -z $IP ]; then
         echo "got nothing back from the API"
-	exit 10
+        exit 10
 fi
 
 eui64() {
@@ -45,7 +45,7 @@ for IP in "${IPS[@]}"; do
         fi
 
         echo "we got IPv4 with prefix ${BASH_REMATCH[0]}"
-	ip route add ${IP} dev ${IFACE}
+        ip route add ${IP} dev ${IFACE}
 
      elif [[ $IP =~ ^2604:bbc0:[0-9,a-f,:]{1,444}/([0-9]{2,3})$ ]]; then		### we got a PIv6 prefix < masprefixv6
 
@@ -60,9 +60,13 @@ for IP in "${IPS[@]}"; do
         fi
 
         echo "we got IPv6 with prefix ${BASH_REMATCH[0]}"
-	ip route add ${IP} dev ${IFACE} via $(eui64 $PUBLICMAC)
+        ip route add ${IP} dev ${IFACE} via $(eui64 $PUBLICMAC)
 
-     else										### don't know what we have but something we can't work with
+     elif [[ $IP =~ ^\ *$ ]]; then
+        echo "we just got an empty string. so not gonna do anything. probably due to splitting the comma"
+
+     else
         echo "Unable to detect with what prefix I'm working with"
+        exit 10
    fi
 done