diff --git a/loadjson.m b/loadjson.m
index 9fe09955dad9423f90dfa25b070c8ec055de24ff..41fc45c9139279a5acabf4b1ee6f650b672d728d 100644
--- a/loadjson.m
+++ b/loadjson.m
@@ -63,7 +63,7 @@ function data = loadjson(fname,varargin)
 
 global pos inStr len  esc index_esc len_esc isoct arraytoken
 
-if(regexp(fname,'[\{\}\]\[]','once'))
+if(regexp(fname,'^\s*(?:\[.+\])|(?:\{.+\})\s*$','once'))
    string=fname;
 elseif(exist(fname,'file'))
    try