diff --git a/src/bin/bindctl/bindcmd.py b/src/bin/bindctl/bindcmd.py
index d35b50aea7..f1a622e020 100644
--- a/src/bin/bindctl/bindcmd.py
+++ b/src/bin/bindctl/bindcmd.py
@@ -739,13 +739,8 @@ class BindCmdInterpreter(Cmd):
            of the sets as defined in command_sets.py'''
         if command.command == 'file':
             try:
-                command_file = open(command.params['filename'])
-                # copy them into a list for consistency with the built-in
-                # sets of commands
-                commands = []
-                for line in command_file:
-                    commands.append(line)
-                command_file.close()
+                with open(command.params['filename']) as command_file:
+                    commands = command_file.readlines()
             except IOError as ioe:
                 print("Error: " + str(ioe))
                 return
@@ -787,14 +782,14 @@ class BindCmdInterpreter(Cmd):
                 line = line.strip()
                 if verbose:
                     print(line)
-                if line.startswith('#'):
+                if line.startswith('#') or len(line) == 0:
                     continue
                 elif line.startswith('!'):
-                    if line.startswith('!echo ') and len(line) > 6:
+                    if re.match('^!echo ', line, re.I) and len(line) > 6:
                         print(line[6:])
-                    elif line.startswith('!verbose on'):
+                    elif re.match('^!verbose\s+on\s*$', line, re.I):
                         verbose = True
-                    elif line.startswith('!verbose off'):
+                    elif re.match('^!verbose\s+off$', line, re.I):
                         verbose = False
                     else:
                         print("Warning: ignoring unknown directive: " + line)
diff --git a/tests/lettuce/data/commands/directives b/tests/lettuce/data/commands/directives
index d8147fbf95..4fe10f514a 100644
--- a/tests/lettuce/data/commands/directives
+++ b/tests/lettuce/data/commands/directives
@@ -1,6 +1,19 @@
 # this is a comment: commentexample1
-!echo this is an echo: echoexample
+!echo this is an echo: echoexample2
 !verbose on
-# this is a comment with verbose on: verbosecommentexample
+# this is a comment with verbose on: verbosecommentexample3
 !verbose off
-# this is a comment with verbose off again: commentexample2
+# this is a comment with verbose off again: commentexample4
+# empty lines and lines with only whitespace should be ignored
+
+
+
+	
+	    	
+# directives are case insensitive, and should handle whitespace
+!ECHO echoexample5
+!eChO echoexample6
+!Verbose     ON
+# verbosecommentexample7
+!verBOSE		off	
+# commentexample8
diff --git a/tests/lettuce/features/bindctl_commands.feature b/tests/lettuce/features/bindctl_commands.feature
index f10467660f..0e7d9a82aa 100644
--- a/tests/lettuce/features/bindctl_commands.feature
+++ b/tests/lettuce/features/bindctl_commands.feature
@@ -88,9 +88,13 @@ Feature: control with bindctl
         When I send bind10 the command execute file data/commands/directives
         last bindctl output should not contain Error
         last bindctl output should not contain commentexample1
-        last bindctl output should contain echoexample
-        last bindctl output should contain verbosecommentexample
-        last bindctl output should not contain commentexample2
+        last bindctl output should contain echoexample2
+        last bindctl output should contain verbosecommentexample3
+        last bindctl output should not contain commentexample4
+        last bindctl output should contain echoexample5
+        last bindctl output should contain echoexample6
+        last bindctl output should contain verbosecommentexample7
+        last bindctl output should not contain commentexample8
 
         # bad_command contains a bad command, at which point execution should stop
         When I send bind10 the command execute file data/commands/bad_command