diff --git a/src/input_xml.F90 b/src/input_xml.F90
index ae01b0b5cc..5449b169dd 100644
--- a/src/input_xml.F90
+++ b/src/input_xml.F90
@@ -994,7 +994,7 @@ contains
     logical :: boundary_exists
     character(MAX_LINE_LEN) :: filename
     character(MAX_WORD_LEN) :: word
-    character(MAX_LINE_LEN) :: region_spec
+    character(1000) :: region_spec
     type(Cell),     pointer :: c
     class(Surface), pointer :: s
     class(Lattice), pointer :: lat