diff --git a/scriptlib/tests/pipeswitch.tcl b/scriptlib/tests/pipeswitch.tcl
index 9a004bb6..32d558a1 100644
--- a/scriptlib/tests/pipeswitch.tcl
+++ b/scriptlib/tests/pipeswitch.tcl
@@ -1,11 +1,17 @@
 package require punk
+package require shellfilter
+foreach d [debug names] {
+    #debug off $d
+}
+
 
 proc  test1 {} {
     alsoresult,data@@DATA.=\
-    result@1/1,returnvalue,status@0.= pipeswitch {
+    result@1/1,returnvalue,status@0.=\
+    pipeswitch {
         puts stderr "pre pipecase code always runs"
         
-        pipecase ,'p1v0@0.= val {p1v0x b c} |> {
+        pipecase pipenomatchvar nomatch1 ,'p1v0@0.= val {p1v0x b c} |> {
             puts stdout "pipecase1 $data"
             set data
         }
@@ -13,7 +19,7 @@ proc  test1 {} {
         # in between
         puts stderr "code after unmatched but before matched will run"
         
-        pipecase input,'p2v1@1.= val {x p2v1 z} |> {
+        pipecase pipenomatchvar nomatch2 input,'p2v1@1.= val {x p2v1 z} |> {
             puts stdout "pipecase2 $data"
             return [list source pipecase2 data $data]
         }                                       |> {
@@ -28,14 +34,17 @@ proc  test1 {} {
         puts stderr "no matches"
         return nomatch
     }
+    
     puts stdout "returnvalue of pipeswitch return is: $returnvalue"
+    puts stdout "[a+ yellow bold]nomatch var pipe1: $nomatch1[a+]"
+    puts stdout "nomatch destructured to 'matchinfo': [mi@@error/reason/matchinfo= $nomatch1]"
+    puts stdout "[a+ green bold]nomatch var pipe2 (empty if there was a match): $nomatch2[a+]"
     puts stdout "value of pipeswitch result is: $result"
     puts stdout "status of pipeswitch is: $status"
     puts stdout "alsoresult:$alsoresult"
     puts stdout "dict destructuring, DATA key = $data"
 }
 test1
-test1
 
 puts stderr "proc test follows"
 proc  match_args {args} {
diff --git a/src/modules/punk-0.1.tm b/src/modules/punk-0.1.tm
index 5ffd02f3..25dca15f 100644
--- a/src/modules/punk-0.1.tm
+++ b/src/modules/punk-0.1.tm
@@ -463,7 +463,8 @@ namespace eval punk {
                                 }
                             } else {
                                 #puts stderr "selector:$selector"
-                                set msg     "Unable to interpret $vspec\n"
+                                #keyword 'pipesyntax' at beginning of error message
+                                set msg     "pipesyntax Unable to interpret $vspec\n"
                                 append msg  "selector: $selector\n"
                                 append msg  "@ must be followed by a selector (possibly compound separated by forward slashes) suitable for lindex or lrange commands, or a not-x expression\n"
                                 append msg  "Additional accepted keywords include: head tail\n"
@@ -658,7 +659,9 @@ namespace eval punk {
             set vidx 0
             set mismatches          [lmap m $match_state v $var_names {expr {$m != 1} ? {[list mismatch $v]} : {[list match $v]}}]
             set mismatches_display  [lmap m $match_state v $var_names {expr {$m != 1} ? {$v} : {[string repeat " " [string length $v]]}}]
-            set msg     "Unmatched: No match of right hand side  for vars in $multivar\n"
+            set msg     "\n"
+            append msg  "Unmatched\n"
+            append msg  "No match of right hand side  for vars in $multivar\n"
             append msg  "vars/atoms:   $var_names\n"
             append msg  "mismatches:   [join $mismatches_display { } ]\n"
             set i 0
@@ -688,7 +691,7 @@ namespace eval punk {
             }
             #error $msg
             dict unset returndict result
-            dict set returndict mismatch $msg
+            dict set returndict mismatch [dict create varnames $var_names matchinfo $mismatches display $msg]
             return $returndict
         }
 
@@ -705,7 +708,7 @@ namespace eval punk {
 
     proc _handle_bind_result {d} {
         set match_caller [info level 2]
-        debug.punk.pipe  {_handle_bind_result match_caller: $match_caller} 0
+        #debug.punk.pipe  {_handle_bind_result match_caller: $match_caller} 9
         if {![dict exists $d result]} {
             uplevel 1 [list error [dict get $d mismatch]]
         } else {
@@ -771,7 +774,9 @@ namespace eval punk {
                 #uplevel 1 [list unset $multivar]
                 set returnval "" 
             } else {
-                set msg     "Assignment with = accepts only zero or one argument, unless characters immediately follow the = sign.\n"
+                #keyword pipesyntax at beginning of error message
+                set msg     "pipesyntax\n"
+                append msg  "Assignment with = accepts only zero or one argument, unless characters immediately follow the = sign.\n"
                 append msg  "Characters immediately after the equals sign form the first element of a list if there is *any* literal whitespace\n"
                 append msg  "e.g x=\"abc\"  will assign \"abc\" including the quotes\n"
                 append msg  "but x=\"ab      c\" will form a two element list containing \"ab  and c\" \n"
@@ -955,7 +960,7 @@ namespace eval punk {
 
     proc match_exec {initial_returnvarspec e1 args} {
         set fulltail $args
-        debug.punk.pipe {call match_exec: '$initial_returnvarspec' '$e1' '$fulltail'} 4
+        debug.punk.pipe {call match_exec: '$initial_returnvarspec' '$e1' '$fulltail'} 9
         debug.punk.pipe.rep {[rep_listname fulltail]} 6
 
 
@@ -1319,7 +1324,8 @@ namespace eval punk {
                         #return $r
                         set segment_result $r
                     } else {
-                        set msg     "Attempted to evaluate as expression '$e'\n"
+                        set msg     "pipesyntax"
+                        append msg  "Attempted to evaluate as expression '$e'\n"
                         append msg  "due to brace \"\{\" immediately following .= \n"
                         append msg  "(place other commands immediately following .= or place script block after a space)\n"
                         append msg  "expression error: $evaluated" 
@@ -1335,7 +1341,8 @@ namespace eval punk {
                         #return $r
                         set segment_result $r
                     } else {
-                        set msg     "Attempted to evaluate as expression\n"
+                        set msg     "pipesyntax"
+                        append msg  "Attempted to evaluate as expression\n"
                         append msg  "due to number or math func immediately following .= \n"
                         append msg  "(place other commands immediately following .= or place script block after a space)\n"
                         append msg  "expression error: $evaluated" 
@@ -1546,7 +1553,7 @@ namespace eval punk {
                 set forward_result $segment_result
                 set previous_result $forward_result
             } else {
-                debug.punk.pipe {[a+ cyan bold]End of pipe segments ($i)[a+]} 4
+                #debug.punk.pipe {[a+ cyan bold]End of pipe segments ($i)[a+]} 4
                 set more_pipe_segments 0
             }
 
@@ -1672,7 +1679,7 @@ namespace eval punk {
     configure_unknown 
     #if client redefines 'unknown' after package require punk,  they must call punk::configure_unknown afterwards.
     proc pipematch {args} {
-        debug.punk.pipe {pipematch level [info level] levelinfo [info level 0]} 2
+        #debug.punk.pipe {pipematch level [info level] levelinfo [info level 0]} 2
         variable re_dot_assign
         variable re_assign
 
@@ -1701,8 +1708,12 @@ namespace eval punk {
         }
     }
 
-    proc pipecase {args} {
-        debug.punk.pipe {pipematch level [info level] levelinfo [info level 0]} 2
+    proc pipenomatchvar {varname args} {
+        if {[string first = $varname] >=0} {
+            #first word "pipesyntax" is looked for by pipecase
+            error "pipesyntax pipenomatch expects a simple varname as first argument"
+        }
+        #debug.punk.pipe {pipematch level [info level] levelinfo [info level 0]} 2
         variable re_dot_assign
         variable re_assign
 
@@ -1722,32 +1733,53 @@ namespace eval punk {
         }
 
         
+        debug.punk.pipe {[a+ yellow bold]pipematchnomatch [a+]} 1
         if {[catch {uplevel 1 $cmdlist} result]} {
-            return [dict create error [dict create reason $result]]
+            debug.punk.pipe {[a+ yellow bold]pipematchnomatch error $result[a+]} 1
+            set errordict [dict create error [dict create reason $result]]
+            uplevel 1 [list set $varname $errordict]
+            #re-raise the error for pipeswitch to deal with
+            uplevel 1 [list error $result]
         } else {
-            tailcall return [dict create ok [dict create result $result]]
+            debug.punk.pipe {pipematchnomatch result $result } 4
+            uplevel 1 [list set $varname ""]
+            #return raw result only - to pass through to pipeswitch
+            return $result
+            #return [dict create ok [dict create result $result]]
         }
-
     }
+    proc pipecase {args} {
+        #debug.punk.pipe {pipecase level [info level] levelinfo [info level 0]} 9
+        variable re_dot_assign
+        variable re_assign
 
-    proc create_pipeswitch_interp {} {
-        interp create interp_pipeswitch
-        interp eval interp_pipeswitch {
-            namespace eval ::punk {}
-            set ::punk::i_am_slave_interp 1
+        set assign [lindex $args 0]
+        set arglist [lrange $args 1 end]
+        if {$assign eq ".="} {
+            set cmdlist [list ::punk::match_exec "" "" {*}$arglist]
+        } elseif {$assign eq "="} {
+            set cmdlist [list ::punk::match_assign "" "" $arglist]
+        } elseif {[regexp $re_dot_assign $assign _ returnvarspecs rhs]} {
+            set cmdlist [list ::punk::match_exec $returnvarspecs $rhs {*}$arglist]
+        } elseif {[regexp $re_assign $assign _ returnvarspecs rhs]} {
+            set cmdlist [list ::punk::match_assign $returnvarspecs $rhs $arglist]
+        } else {
+            set cmdlist $args
+            #return [dict create error [dict create reason [dict create pipematch bad_first_word value $assign pipeline [list pipematch $assign {*}$args]]]]
         }
-        interp eval interp_pipeswitch {
-            package require shellfilter
-            package require punk
-            foreach d [debug names] {
-                debug off $d
+
+        
+        if {[catch {uplevel 1 $cmdlist} result]} {
+            if {[string match "pipesyntax*" $result]} {
+                error $result
             }
+            return [dict create error [dict create reason $result]]
+        } else {
+            tailcall return [dict create ok [dict create result $result]]
         }
+
     }
-    #we will re-use this interp to evaluate pipeswitch code blocks 
-    if {![info exists ::punk::i_am_slave_interp]} {
-        create_pipeswitch_interp
-    }
+
     proc pipeswitch {pipescript} {
         uplevel $pipescript
     }
@@ -2396,6 +2428,7 @@ namespace eval punk {
     interp alias {} pipeswitch {} punk::pipeswitch
     interp alias {} pipecase   {} punk::pipecase
     interp alias {} pipematch {} punk::pipematch
+    interp alias {} pipenomatchvar {} punk::pipenomatchvar
 
     proc = {value} {
         return $value