diff --git a/apps/openmw/mwgui/console.cpp b/apps/openmw/mwgui/console.cpp
index dee2d4a31..b367c6f49 100644
--- a/apps/openmw/mwgui/console.cpp
+++ b/apps/openmw/mwgui/console.cpp
@@ -303,6 +303,14 @@ namespace MWGui
         bool has_front_quote = false;
 
         /* Does the input string contain things that don't have to be completed? If yes erase them. */
+
+        /* Erase a possible call to an explicit reference. */
+        size_t explicitPos = tmp.find("->");
+        if (explicitPos != std::string::npos)
+        {
+            tmp.erase(0, explicitPos+2);
+        }
+
         /* Are there quotation marks? */
         if( tmp.find('"') != std::string::npos ) {
             int numquotes=0;
@@ -340,13 +348,6 @@ namespace MWGui
             }
         }
 
-        // Erase a possible call to an explicit reference
-        size_t explicitPos = tmp.find("->");
-        if (explicitPos != std::string::npos)
-        {
-            tmp.erase(0, explicitPos+2);
-        }
-
         /* Erase the input from the output string so we can easily append the completed form later. */
         output.erase(output.end()-tmp.length(), output.end());