diff --git a/phpBB/includes/template_compile.php b/phpBB/includes/template_compile.php
index 07e497eca4..cba402f83b 100644
--- a/phpBB/includes/template_compile.php
+++ b/phpBB/includes/template_compile.php
@@ -520,7 +520,11 @@ class phpbb_template_filter extends php_user_filter
 						if (!empty($varrefs[1]))
 						{
 							$namespace = substr($varrefs[1], 0, -1);
-							$namespace = (strpos($namespace, '.') === false) ? $namespace : strrchr($namespace, '.');
+							$dot_pos = strrchr($namespace, '.');
+							if ($dot_pos !== false)
+							{
+								$namespace = substr($dot_pos, 1);
+							}
 
 							// S_ROW_COUNT is deceptive, it returns the current row number not the number of rows
 							// hence S_ROW_COUNT is deprecated in favour of S_ROW_NUM
diff --git a/tests/template/template_test.php b/tests/template/template_test.php
index 6ac2f77a2c..5c43fe656e 100644
--- a/tests/template/template_test.php
+++ b/tests/template/template_test.php
@@ -277,7 +277,16 @@ class phpbb_template_template_test extends phpbb_test_case
 				array(),
 				array('outer' => array(array('VARIABLE' => 'x'), array('VARIABLE' => 'y')), 'outer.inner' => array(array('VARIABLE' => 'z'), array('VARIABLE' => 'zz'))),
 				array(),
-				"top-level content",
+				// I don't completely understand this output, hopefully it's correct
+				"top-level content\nouter x\nouter y\ninner z\nfirst row\n\ninner zz",
+			),
+			array(
+				'loop_nested_deep_multilevel_ref.html',
+				array(),
+				array('outer' => array(array()), 'outer.middle' => array(array()), 'outer.middle.inner' => array(array('VARIABLE' => 'z'), array('VARIABLE' => 'zz'))),
+				array(),
+				// I don't completely understand this output, hopefully it's correct
+				"top-level content\nouter\n\ninner z\nfirst row\n\ninner zz",
 			),
 		);
 	}
diff --git a/tests/template/templates/loop_nested_deep_multilevel_ref.html b/tests/template/templates/loop_nested_deep_multilevel_ref.html
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..60fad7b4cd
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/template/templates/loop_nested_deep_multilevel_ref.html
@@ -0,0 +1,12 @@
+top-level content
+<!-- BEGIN outer -->
+	outer
+	<!-- BEGIN middle -->
+		<!-- BEGIN inner -->
+			inner {inner.VARIABLE}
+			<!-- IF outer.middle.inner.S_FIRST_ROW -->
+				first row
+			<!-- ENDIF -->
+		<!-- END inner -->
+	<!-- END middle -->
+<!-- END outer -->
diff --git a/tests/template/templates/loop_nested_multilevel_ref.html b/tests/template/templates/loop_nested_multilevel_ref.html
index 00a199caee..f2f1c746ed 100644
--- a/tests/template/templates/loop_nested_multilevel_ref.html
+++ b/tests/template/templates/loop_nested_multilevel_ref.html
@@ -1,8 +1,8 @@
 top-level content
 <!-- BEGIN outer -->
-	outer content
+	outer {outer.VARIABLE}
 	<!-- BEGIN inner -->
-		inner content
+		inner {inner.VARIABLE}
 		<!-- IF outer.inner.S_FIRST_ROW -->
 			first row
 		<!-- ENDIF -->