diff --git a/shared.sh b/shared.sh
index 4f64f5b..838fc12 100644
--- a/shared.sh
+++ b/shared.sh
@@ -11,13 +11,27 @@ export LC_ALL=C.UTF-8
 
 pcre_semver='^(?P<major>0|[1-9]\d*)\.(?P<minor>0|[1-9]\d*)\.(?P<patch>0|[1-9]\d*)(?:-(?P<prerelease>(?:0|[1-9]\d*|\d*[a-zA-Z-][0-9a-zA-Z-]*)(?:\.(?:0|[1-9]\d*|\d*[a-zA-Z-][0-9a-zA-Z-]*))*))?(?:\+(?P<buildmetadata>[0-9a-zA-Z-]+(?:\.[0-9a-zA-Z-]+)*))?$'
 pcre_master_ver='^(?P<major>0|[1-9]\d*)\.(?P<minor>0|[1-9]\d*)\.(?P<patch>0|[1-9]\d*)$'
+pcre_allow_vprefix="^v{0,1}${pcre_master_ver:1}"
 
-# Extended regex to allow arbitrary prefixes before the semver
-pcre_allow_prefix='^.*(?P<semver>'"${pcre_master_ver:1}"')$'
-
-pcre_allow_vprefix="^v{0,1}${pcre_allow_prefix:1}"
 pcre_old_calver='^(?P<major>0|[1-9]\d*)-0{0,1}(?P<minor>0|[0-9]\d*)-R(?P<patch>0|[1-9]\d*)$'
 
+##==----------------------------------------------------------------------------
+##  Utility function for removing tag_prefix if present
+
+remove_prefix() {
+    local tag="$1"
+    if [[ -n "${tag_prefix:-}" ]]; then
+        # Escape special characters in tag_prefix
+        local escaped_prefix
+        escaped_prefix=$(printf '%s\n' "$tag_prefix" | sed 's/[][\/.^$*]/\\&/g')
+
+        # Use | as the delimiter to avoid conflicts with /
+        echo "${tag}" | sed "s|^${escaped_prefix}||"
+    else
+        echo "${tag}"
+    fi
+}
+
 ##==----------------------------------------------------------------------------
 ## Conventional commit regexes
 ## see: https://www.conventionalcommits.org/en/v1.0.0/
@@ -58,12 +72,6 @@ fi
 # Check if the tag_prefix is set, and if not, set it to an empty string
 tag_prefix="${tag_prefix:-}"
 
-# Add a trailing @ to tag_prefix if it doesn't already end with one
-if [[ -n "$tag_prefix" && "${tag_prefix: -1}" != "@" ]]; then
-    tag_prefix="${tag_prefix}@"
-fi
-
-
 ##==----------------------------------------------------------------------------
 ##  MacOS compatibility
 
diff --git a/tests/test_version-lookup.bats b/tests/test_version-lookup.bats
index a614482..d6d5291 100644
--- a/tests/test_version-lookup.bats
+++ b/tests/test_version-lookup.bats
@@ -133,7 +133,6 @@ function init_repo {
     [[ "$output" = *"CURRENT_VERSION=0.1.2"* ]] &&
     [[ "$output" = *"CURRENT_V_VERSION=v0.1.2"* ]]
 }
-}
 
 @test "returns 0.0.0 if no normal version detected" {
     init_repo
diff --git a/version-increment.sh b/version-increment.sh
index a754abe..1915805 100755
--- a/version-increment.sh
+++ b/version-increment.sh
@@ -15,8 +15,8 @@ fi
 if [[ -z "${current_version:-}" ]] ; then
     echo "🛑 Environment variable 'current_version' is unset or empty" 1>&2
     input_errors='true'
-elif [[ -z "$(echo "${current_version}" | grep_p "${pcre_allow_prefix}")" ]] ; then
-    echo "🛑 Environment variable 'current_version' is not a valid normal version (M.m.p) or (prefix@M.m.p)" 1>&2
+elif [[ -z "$(echo "${current_version}" | grep_p "${pcre_master_ver}")" ]] ; then
+    echo "🛑 Environment variable 'current_version' is not a valid normal version (M.m.p)" 1>&2
     input_errors='true'
 fi
 
diff --git a/version-lookup.sh b/version-lookup.sh
index a06cd6c..d0e5a94 100755
--- a/version-lookup.sh
+++ b/version-lookup.sh
@@ -23,21 +23,6 @@ fi
 ##==----------------------------------------------------------------------------
 ##  Version parsing
 
-# Function to extract the semver part from the tag
-extract_semver() {
-    local tag="$1"
-    if [[ -n "${tag_prefix:-}" ]]; then
-        # Escape special characters in tag_prefix
-        local escaped_prefix
-        escaped_prefix=$(printf '%s\n' "$tag_prefix" | sed 's/[][\/.^$*]/\\&/g')
-
-        # Use | as the delimiter to avoid conflicts with /
-        echo "${tag}" | sed "s|^${escaped_prefix}||"
-    else
-        echo "${tag}"
-    fi
-}
-
 # detect current version - removing "v" from start of tag if it exists
 if [[ "${use_api:-}" == 'true' ]] ; then
     current_version="$(
@@ -49,7 +34,7 @@ if [[ "${use_api:-}" == 'true' ]] ; then
         | jq -r '.[].ref' | sed 's|refs/tags/||g' \
         | { grep_p "${pcre_allow_vprefix}" || true; } \
         | sed 's/^v//g' \
-        | while read -r tag; do extract_semver "$tag"; done \
+        | while read -r tag; do remove_prefix "$tag"; done \
         | sort -V | tail -n 1
     )"
 else
@@ -57,7 +42,7 @@ else
         git tag -l \
         | { grep_p "${pcre_allow_vprefix}" || true; } \
         | sed 's/^v//g' \
-        | while read -r tag; do extract_semver "$tag"; done \
+        | while read -r tag; do remove_prefix "$tag"; done \
         | sort -V | tail -n 1
     )"
 fi