diff --git a/hledger-lib/Hledger/Read/JournalReader.hs b/hledger-lib/Hledger/Read/JournalReader.hs
index aa9740f24..ac9cb42d0 100644
--- a/hledger-lib/Hledger/Read/JournalReader.hs
+++ b/hledger-lib/Hledger/Read/JournalReader.hs
@@ -230,7 +230,7 @@ addJournalItemP =
 -- http://ledger-cli.org/3.0/doc/ledger3.html#Command-Directives
 directivep :: MonadIO m => ErroringJournalParser m ()
 directivep = (do
-  optional $ char '!'
+  optional $ oneOf ['!','@']
   choice [
     includedirectivep
    ,aliasdirectivep