diff -urN ../exim-4.94.orig/src/expand.c ./src/expand.c
--- ../exim-4.94.orig/src/expand.c	2020-08-20 01:33:48.880810000 +0300
+++ ./src/expand.c	2020-08-20 02:24:57.353143000 +0300
@@ -4390,7 +4390,7 @@
   goto EXPAND_FAILED;
   }
 
-while (*s != 0)
+while (*s)
   {
   uschar *value;
   uschar name[256];
@@ -4776,7 +4776,7 @@
       int save_expand_nmax =
         save_expand_strings(save_expand_nstring, save_expand_nlength);
 
-      if ((expand_forbid & RDO_LOOKUP) != 0)
+      if (expand_forbid & RDO_LOOKUP)
         {
         expand_string_message = US"lookup expansions are not permitted";
         goto EXPAND_FAILED;
@@ -4875,21 +4875,7 @@
       file types, the query (i.e. "key") starts with a file name. */
 
       if (!key)
-        {
-	Uskip_whitespace(&filename);
-        key = filename;
-
-        if (mac_islookup(stype, lookup_querystyle))
-          filename = NULL;
-        else
-          if (*filename == '/')
-	    {
-	    while (*key && !isspace(*key)) key++;
-	    if (*key) *key++ = '\0';
-	    }
-	  else
-	    filename = NULL;
-        }
+	key = search_args(stype, name, filename, &filename, opts);
 
       /* If skipping, don't do the next bit - just lookup_value == NULL, as if
       the entry was not found. Note that there is no search_close() function.
diff -urN ../exim-4.94.orig/src/functions.h ./src/functions.h
--- ../exim-4.94.orig/src/functions.h	2020-08-20 01:33:48.882094000 +0300
+++ ./src/functions.h	2020-08-20 02:23:01.836287000 +0300
@@ -447,6 +447,7 @@
 extern gstring * route_show_supported(gstring *);
 extern void    route_tidyup(void);
 
+extern uschar *search_args(int, uschar *, uschar *, uschar **, const uschar *);
 extern uschar *search_find(void *, const uschar *, uschar *, int,
 		 const uschar *, int, int, int *, const uschar *);
 extern int     search_findtype(const uschar *, int);
diff -urN ../exim-4.94.orig/src/match.c ./src/match.c
--- ../exim-4.94.orig/src/match.c	2020-08-20 01:33:48.574466000 +0300
+++ ./src/match.c	2020-08-20 02:23:11.525273000 +0300
@@ -286,22 +286,7 @@
 
 /* Set the parameters for the three different kinds of lookup. */
 
-keyquery = semicolon + 1;
-Uskip_whitespace(&keyquery);
-
-if (mac_islookup(search_type, lookup_absfilequery))
-  {
-  filename = keyquery;
-  while (*keyquery && !isspace(*keyquery)) keyquery++;
-  filename = string_copyn(filename, keyquery - filename);
-  Uskip_whitespace(&keyquery);
-  }
-
-else if (!mac_islookup(search_type, lookup_querystyle))
-  {
-  filename = keyquery;
-  keyquery = s;
-  }
+keyquery = search_args(search_type, s, semicolon+1, &filename, opts);
 
 /* Now do the actual lookup; throw away the data returned unless it was asked
 for; partial matching is all handled inside search_find(). Note that there is
diff -urN ../exim-4.94.orig/src/search.c ./src/search.c
--- ../exim-4.94.orig/src/search.c	2020-05-30 23:35:38.000000000 +0300
+++ ./src/search.c	2020-08-20 02:23:19.740828000 +0300
@@ -217,6 +217,55 @@
 }
 
 
+/* Set the parameters for the three different kinds of lookup.
+Arguments:
+ search_type	the search-type code
+ search		the search-type string
+ query		argument for the search; filename or query
+ fnamep		pointer to return filename
+ opts		options
+
+Return:	keyquery	the search-type (for single-key) or query (for query-type)
+ */
+uschar *
+search_args(int search_type, uschar * search, uschar * query, uschar ** fnamep,
+  const uschar * opts)
+{
+Uskip_whitespace(&query);
+if (mac_islookup(search_type, lookup_absfilequery))
+  {					/* query-style but with file (sqlite) */
+  int sep = ',';
+
+  /* Check options first for new-style file spec */
+  if (opts) for (uschar * s; s = string_nextinlist(&opts, &sep, NULL, 0); )
+    if (Ustrncmp(s, "file=", 5) == 0)
+      {
+      *fnamep = s+5;
+      return query;
+      }
+
+  /* If no filename from options, use old-tyle space-sep prefix on query */
+  if (*query == '/')
+    {
+    uschar * s = query;
+    while (*query && !isspace(*query)) query++;
+    *fnamep = string_copyn(s, query - s);
+    Uskip_whitespace(&query);
+    }
+  else
+    *fnamep = NULL;
+  return query;		/* remainder after file skipped */
+  }
+if (!mac_islookup(search_type, lookup_querystyle))
+  {					/* single-key */
+  *fnamep = query;
+  return search;	/* modifiers important so use "keyquery" for them */
+  }
+*fnamep = NULL;				/* else query-style */
+return query;
+}
+
+
 
 /*************************************************
 *               Release cached resources         *