diff --git a/gdb/ChangeLog b/gdb/ChangeLog
index 6f0bc08067..94eb3c628e 100644
--- a/gdb/ChangeLog
+++ b/gdb/ChangeLog
@@ -1,3 +1,9 @@
+2000-09-01  Kevin Buettner  <kevinb@redhat.com>
+
+	* symtab.c (decode_line_1):  Make sure leading character is
+	actually a colon before skipping over leading colons in global
+	namespace specification.
+
 2000-09-01  Michael Snyder  <msnyder@cleaver.cygnus.com>
 
 	* regcache.c (reg_flush_command): New function.  Maintainer-mode
diff --git a/gdb/symtab.c b/gdb/symtab.c
index f48368f2e2..2e83933b5b 100644
--- a/gdb/symtab.c
+++ b/gdb/symtab.c
@@ -2642,7 +2642,8 @@ decode_line_1 (char **argptr, int funfirstline, struct symtab *default_symtab,
 	  /* First check for "global" namespace specification,
 	     of the form "::foo". If found, skip over the colons
 	     and jump to normal symbol processing */
-	  if ((*argptr == p) || (p[-1] == ' ') || (p[-1] == '\t'))
+	  if (p[0] == ':' 
+	      && ((*argptr == p) || (p[-1] == ' ') || (p[-1] == '\t')))
 	    saved_arg2 += 2;
 
 	  /* We have what looks like a class or namespace