diff --git a/modules/conop/src/chemdict_tool.cc b/modules/conop/src/chemdict_tool.cc
index 6e5720675c912198e53fb0c0260d3514ecb91004..449d22aac507fbf618e14d233377fe2c096e233e 100644
--- a/modules/conop/src/chemdict_tool.cc
+++ b/modules/conop/src/chemdict_tool.cc
@@ -72,9 +72,11 @@ int main(int argc, char const *argv[])
   filtered_istream.push(istream);  
   io::ChemdictParser cdp(filtered_istream, dialect);
   conop::CompoundLibPtr compound_lib;
-  if (!strcmp(argv[1], "create")) {
-    compound_lib=conop::CompoundLib::Create(argv[3]);
-  } else if (!strcmp(argv[1], "update")) {
+  bool in_mem=false;
+  if (!strncmp(argv[1], "create", 6)) {
+    compound_lib=conop::CompoundLib::Create(":memory:");
+    in_mem=true;
+  } else if (!strncmp(argv[1], "update", 6)) {
     compound_lib=conop::CompoundLib::Load(argv[3]);
   } else {
     PrintUsage();
@@ -84,10 +86,11 @@ int main(int argc, char const *argv[])
     return 0;
   }
   assert(compound_lib);
-  conop::CompoundLibPtr in_mem_lib=compound_lib->Copy(":memory:");  
+  conop::CompoundLibPtr in_mem_lib=in_mem ? compound_lib :
+                                   compound_lib->Copy(":memory:");
   compound_lib.reset();  
   cdp.SetCompoundLib(in_mem_lib);
   cdp.Parse();
   in_mem_lib->Copy(argv[3]);  
   return 0;
-}
\ No newline at end of file
+}