diff --git a/bin/submitjob b/bin/submitjob
index 3e8fb4bb6e54e5f8b1ca04b0bdc56f0036088557..b482979698ac2d4c659366fcb83a4e45e97f179d 100755
--- a/bin/submitjob
+++ b/bin/submitjob
@@ -160,7 +160,7 @@ prepare_jobs() {
     while read -r line; do
         if [[ $line = \@* ]]; then
             # Lines starting with @n are multiplied n times
-            pattern='^@([0-9]+) *(.*)$'
+            pattern='^@([1-9][0-9]*) *(.*)$'
             [[ $line =~ $pattern ]] || invalid_pattern "$line"
             num=${BASH_REMATCH[1]}
             cmd=${BASH_REMATCH[2]}