diff --git a/build b/build
index b121df9..af27fe0 100755
--- a/build
+++ b/build
@@ -39,11 +39,11 @@ case "$1" in
       tag) shift 1; image_tag "$@" ;;
       push) shift 1; image_push "$@" ;;
       delete) shift 1; image_delete "$@" ;;
+      exists) shift 1; image_exists "$@" ;;
       info) 
         shift 1
         case "$1" in
           arch) shift 1; image_arch "$@" ;;
-          exists) shift 1; image_exists "$@" ;;
           tags) shift 1; image_tags "$@" ;;
           id) shift 1; image_id "$@" ;;
           * ) image_info "$@"
diff --git a/lib/build.lib b/lib/build.lib
index 9f04cde..066a500 100755
--- a/lib/build.lib
+++ b/lib/build.lib
@@ -64,6 +64,15 @@ read_env_file() {
   local evar
   while read line; do
   evar=$(echo $line | cut -d '=' -f1)
+  if [[ $(echo $(c() { echo $#; }; c $line)) -gt 1 ]];then
+    echo the environment file: $1 
+    echo has a format error on this line
+    echo "--------------"
+    echo $line
+    echo "--------------"
+    echo you must correct this before the build can continue
+    return 1
+  fi  
   if [[ ! ${!evar}  ]]; then
         # echo DECLARE $evar via $line 
         if declare -gx "$(echo "${line}" | sed 's/\"//g' )"; then