diff --git a/tconfpy.py b/tconfpy.py
index 085a3ad..b54ac8a 100755
--- a/tconfpy.py
+++ b/tconfpy.py
@@ -6,7 +6,7 @@
 # Program Information
 
 PROGNAME = "tconfpy"
-RCSID = "$Id: tconfpy.py,v 1.178 2004/04/16 23:59:45 tundra Exp $"
+RCSID = "$Id: tconfpy.py,v 1.179 2004/04/17 01:02:04 tundra Exp $"
 VERSION = RCSID.split()[2]
 
 # Copyright Information
@@ -276,6 +276,7 @@
 Messages["dNUMLINES"]   = "Processing File '%s' Resulted In %d Total Lines Parsed"
 Messages["dPARSEDLINE"] = FILENUM + "'%s'" + PTR + "'%s'"
 Messages["dREGEXMATCH"] = FILENUM + "Value '%s' Matched Regex '%s' For Variable '%s'"
+Messages["dVAREXISTS"]  = FILENUM + "Checking To See If Variable '%s' Exists"
 Messages["dVARREF"]     = FILENUM + "Variable Dereference: '%s'" + PTR + "'%s'"
 
 
@@ -930,13 +931,41 @@
                     # Iterate through all named variables to see if they exist
                     for v in vars:
 
+                        # Condition the variable name with the current namespace
+                        # unless:
+                        #
+                        #      1) We are in the root namespace
+                        #      2) We're dealing with an environment variable
+                        #      3) We're dealing with a predefined variable
+                        #      4) We're dealing with the NAMESPACE variable
+                        #      5) The variable name is not escaped
+
+                        ns = SymTable[NAMESPACE].Value
+
+                        if ns and \
+                           v[0] != ENVIRO and \
+                           v not in Predefined and \
+                           v != NAMESPACE:
+
+                            # Convert escaped variable names to canonical form
+                            if v[0] == NSSEP:
+                                v = v[1:]
+                                
+                            # Prepend current namespace to everything else
+                            else:
+                                v = "%s%s%s" % (ns, NSSEP, v)
+
+                        # Produce debug ouput of actual variable name being checked
+                        if DEBUG:
+                            DebugMsg("dVAREXISTS", (cfgfile, linenum, v))
+                
                         # Handle environment variables
                         if v[0] == ENVIRO:
-                            if v in os.environ:
+                            if v[1:] in os.environ:
                                 numexist += 1
 
                         # Handle local local variables
-                        if v in SymTable:
+                        elif v in SymTable:
                             numexist += 1
 
                     # And set the conditional state accordingly