diff --git a/src/common/query.cpp b/src/common/query.cpp
index d7fb51257..67873a5e8 100644
--- a/src/common/query.cpp
+++ b/src/common/query.cpp
@@ -77,8 +77,16 @@ namespace lumiera
       {
       map<Symbol, regex> regexTable;
       
-      Symbol matchArgument = "\\(\\s*([\\w_\\.\\-]+)\\s*\\)"; 
+      Symbol matchArgument = "\\(\\s*([\\w_\\.\\-]+)\\s*\\),?\\s*"; 
       regex findPredicate (string("(\\w+)")+matchArgument);
+      
+      inline regex&
+      getTermRegex (Symbol sym)
+      {
+        if (!contains (regexTable, sym))
+          regexTable[sym] = regex (string(sym)+=matchArgument);
+        return regexTable[sym];
+      }
     }
     
     /** (preliminary) helper: instead of really parsing and evaluating the terms,
@@ -90,17 +98,31 @@ namespace lumiera
     const string
     extractID (Symbol sym, const string& termString)
     {
-      
-      if (!contains (regexTable, sym))
-        regexTable[sym] = regex (string(sym)+=matchArgument); 
-      
       smatch match;
-      if (regex_search (termString, match, regexTable[sym]))
-        return string (match[1]);
+      if (regex_search (termString, match, getTermRegex (sym)))
+        return (match[1]);
       else
         return "";
+    } 
     
-  } 
+    
+    /** (preliminary) helper: cut a term with the given symbol. 
+     *  The term is matched, removed from the original string and returned
+     *  @note parameter termString will be modified!
+     */
+    const string
+    removeTerm (Symbol sym, string& termString)
+    {
+      smatch match;
+      if (regex_search (termString, match, getTermRegex (sym)))
+        {
+          string res (sym); res += "("+match[1]+")";
+          termString.erase (match.position(), match[0].length());
+          return res;
+        }
+      else
+        return "";
+    } 
   
     
     /** @note this is a very hackish preliminary implementation. 
diff --git a/src/common/query.hpp b/src/common/query.hpp
index b7d22498b..14d23982b 100644
--- a/src/common/query.hpp
+++ b/src/common/query.hpp
@@ -69,7 +69,6 @@ namespace lumiera
      */
     void normalizeID (string& id);
     
-    const string extractID (Symbol, const string& termString);
 
     /** count the top-level predicates in the query string.
      *  usable for ordering queries, as more predicates usually
@@ -77,7 +76,12 @@ namespace lumiera
      */
     uint countPraed (const string&);
     
-  
+    
+    const string extractID (Symbol, const string& termString);
+    
+    const string removeTerm (Symbol, string& termString);
+
+    
   } // namespace query
     
 } // namespace lumiera
diff --git a/tests/52query.tests b/tests/52query.tests
index ce5f4f31e..2c598b3b0 100644
--- a/tests/52query.tests
+++ b/tests/52query.tests
@@ -18,6 +18,11 @@ return: 0
 END
 
 
+TEST "QueryUtils_test" QueryUtils_test  removeTerm  <<END
+return: 0
+END
+
+
 TEST "QueryUtils_test" QueryUtils_test  countPraed  <<END
 return: 0
 END
diff --git a/tests/components/common/query/querydiagnostics.hpp b/tests/components/common/query/querydiagnostics.hpp
index 91bcbebbc..54545d841 100644
--- a/tests/components/common/query/querydiagnostics.hpp
+++ b/tests/components/common/query/querydiagnostics.hpp
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 /*
-  QUERYDIAGNOSTICS.hpp  -  herlpers for writing tests covering config queries
+  QUERYDIAGNOSTICS.hpp  -  helpers for writing tests covering config queries
  
   Copyright (C)         Lumiera.org
     2008,               Hermann Vosseler <Ichthyostega@web.de>
@@ -25,20 +25,11 @@
 #define LUMIERA_TEST_QUERY_QUERYDIAGNOSTICS_H
 
 
-//#include "common/factory.hpp"
-//#include "common/util.hpp"
-
-//#include <boost/algorithm/string.hpp>
-//#include <boost/lexical_cast.hpp>
 #include <boost/format.hpp>
-//#include <iostream>
 #include <cstdlib>
 
-//using boost::algorithm::join;
-//using boost::lexical_cast;
 using boost::format;
 using std::string;
-//using std::cout;
 using std::rand;
 
 
diff --git a/tests/components/common/query/queryutilstest.cpp b/tests/components/common/query/queryutilstest.cpp
index 6a5b7f375..05cfab7ef 100644
--- a/tests/components/common/query/queryutilstest.cpp
+++ b/tests/components/common/query/queryutilstest.cpp
@@ -68,11 +68,12 @@ namespace lumiera
           virtual void
           run (Arg arg) 
             {
-              if (isnil(arg))  arg = Cmdline ("Query normalizeID extractID countPraed");
+              if (isnil(arg))  arg = Cmdline ("Query normalizeID extractID removeTerm countPraed");
               
               if (contains (arg, "Query"      ))   check_Query ();
               if (contains (arg, "normalizeID"))   check_normalizeID ();
               if (contains (arg, "extractID"  ))   check_extractID ();
+              if (contains (arg, "removeTerm" ))   check_removeTerm ();
               if (contains (arg, "countPraed" ))   check_countPraed ();
             }
           
@@ -122,6 +123,32 @@ namespace lumiera
           
           
           
+          /** @test the regexp based cutting of a term with given symbol */
+          void
+          check_removeTerm ()
+            {
+              // successfull-----Symbol---input-string----------------------extracted------remaining-------------
+              ASSERT_removeTerm ("pred", "pred(tok).",                     "pred(tok)",   "."                    );
+              ASSERT_removeTerm ("pred", "    pred( tok )",                "pred(tok)",   "    "                 );
+              ASSERT_removeTerm ("pred", "pred(tok), pred(tux).",          "pred(tok)",   "pred(tux)."           );
+              ASSERT_removeTerm ("pred", "other(xyz) pred(tok) pred(tux)", "pred(tok)",   "other(xyz) pred(tux)" );
+              ASSERT_removeTerm ("pred", "some( pred(tok)",                "pred(tok)",   "some( "               );
+              
+              // not successfull
+              ASSERT_removeTerm ("pred", "pred (tok",                      "",            "pred (tok" );
+              ASSERT_removeTerm ("pred", "pred tok)",                      "",            "pred tok)" );
+              ASSERT_removeTerm ("pred", "pred(tok",                       "",            "pred(tok"  );
+            }
+          
+          void
+          ASSERT_removeTerm (Symbol sym, string input, Symbol extracted, Symbol modified)
+            {
+              ASSERT (extracted == removeTerm (sym, input));
+              ASSERT (modified  == input);
+            }
+          
+          
+          
           /** @test counting of predicates in a quiery
            *  (currently 4/08 regexp based...)
            */