diff --git a/src/utils.cpp b/src/utils.cpp
index 809e625a29..2dcf77eacd 100644
--- a/src/utils.cpp
+++ b/src/utils.cpp
@@ -134,8 +134,11 @@ void utils::logmesg(LAMMPS *lmp, const std::string &mesg)
 void utils::fmtargs_logmesg(LAMMPS *lmp,  fmt::string_view format,
                         fmt::format_args args)
 {
-  if (lmp->screen)  fmt::vprint(lmp->screen,  format, args);
-  if (lmp->logfile) fmt::vprint(lmp->logfile, format, args);
+  try {
+    logmesg(lmp, fmt::vformat(format, args));
+  } catch (fmt::format_error &e) {
+    logmesg(lmp, std::string(e.what())+"\n");
+  }
 }
 
 /* define this here, so we won't have to include the headers
diff --git a/unittest/formats/test_file_operations.cpp b/unittest/formats/test_file_operations.cpp
index fe2bf2d2f6..392ca04656 100644
--- a/unittest/formats/test_file_operations.cpp
+++ b/unittest/formats/test_file_operations.cpp
@@ -126,7 +126,7 @@ TEST_F(FileOperationsTest, safe_fread)
 
 TEST_F(FileOperationsTest, logmesg)
 {
-    char buf[16];
+    char buf[64];
     BEGIN_HIDE_OUTPUT();
     command("echo none");
     END_HIDE_OUTPUT();
@@ -135,14 +135,16 @@ TEST_F(FileOperationsTest, logmesg)
     command("log test_logmesg.log");
     utils::logmesg(lmp, "two\n");
     utils::logmesg(lmp, "three={}\n",3);
+    utils::logmesg(lmp, "four {}\n");
+    utils::logmesg(lmp, "five\n",5);
     command("log none");
     std::string out = END_CAPTURE_OUTPUT();
-    memset(buf, 0, 16);
+    memset(buf, 0, 64);
     FILE *fp = fopen("test_logmesg.log", "r");
-    fread(buf, 1, 16, fp);
+    fread(buf, 1, 64, fp);
     fclose(fp);
-    ASSERT_THAT(out, StrEq("one\ntwo\nthree=3\n"));
-    ASSERT_THAT(buf, StrEq("two\nthree=3\n"));
+    ASSERT_THAT(out, StrEq("one\ntwo\nthree=3\nargument not found\nfive\n"));
+    ASSERT_THAT(buf, StrEq("two\nthree=3\nargument not found\nfive\n"));
     remove("test_logmesg.log");
 }