diff --git a/bin/create_config.sh b/bin/create_config.sh
index 26bbb9fa0950eca6378f2ae00947819b1f89f651..edbdbd788064f309616ac5ac0a86e9a0650b6204 100755
--- a/bin/create_config.sh
+++ b/bin/create_config.sh
@@ -7,6 +7,7 @@
 #
 # ----------------------------------------------------------------------
 # 2020-12-15  v0.0  <axel.hahn@iml.unibe.ch>
+# 2021-05-07  v1.0  <axel.hahn@iml.unibe.ch>  multiple replacement files
 # ======================================================================
 
 # ----------------------------------------------------------------------
@@ -15,12 +16,35 @@
 
 tplfile=$1
 outfile=$2
-replacefile=$3
+shift 2
+replacefile=$*
 test -z "$replacefile" && replacefile="replace*.txt"
 
 tmpfile=/tmp/myreplacement.tmp
 usage="`basename $0` TEMPLATE-FILE OUTFILE [optional: REPLACE-DATA-FILE]"
 
+# ----------------------------------------------------------------------
+# FUNCTIONS
+# ----------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+# show colored text + line break
+function _colmessage(){
+    echo -e "\033${1}${2}\033[0m"
+}
+
+# show red error message
+function _err(){
+    _colmessage "[31m" "$1"
+}
+# show green message
+function _ok(){
+    _colmessage "[32m" "$1"
+}
+# show green message
+function _warn(){
+    _colmessage "[33m" "$1"
+}
+
 # ----------------------------------------------------------------------
 # MAIN
 # ----------------------------------------------------------------------
@@ -36,20 +60,20 @@ echo
 
 # --- parameter checks
 if [ -z "$tplfile" -o -z "$outfile" ]; then
-    echo "ERROR: missing params."
+    _err "ERROR: missing params."
     echo $usage
     exit 1
 fi
 
 if [ ! -f "$tplfile" ]; then
-    echo "ERROR: template [$tplfile] does not exist."
+    _err "ERROR: template [$tplfile] does not exist."
     echo $usage
     exit 2
 fi
 
 ls $replacefile >/dev/null
 if [ $? -ne 0 ]; then
-    echo "ERROR: replacement data file [$replacefile] does not exist."
+    _err "ERROR: replacement data file [$replacefile] does not exist."
     echo $usage
     exit 2
 fi
@@ -60,7 +84,7 @@ cat $tplfile > $tmpfile
 # --- apply replace rules
 grep "^[a-zA-Z]" $replacefile | grep "=" | while read line
 do
-    key=$( echo $line | cut -f 1 -d "=" ) 
+    key=$( echo $line | cut -f 2- -d ":" | cut -f 1 -d "=" ) 
     val=$( echo $line | cut -f 2- -d "=" )
 
     regex="<\%\=\ *\@replace\[\"$key\"\]\ *\%>"
@@ -75,7 +99,7 @@ echo
 echo --- changes:
 diff "$tplfile" "$tmpfile"
 if [ $? -eq 0 ]; then
-    echo "ERROR: template was unchanged. Check placeholders in $tplfile and replacements:"
+    _err "ERROR: template was unchanged. Check placeholders in $tplfile and replacements:"
     cat $replacefile
     exit 3
 fi
@@ -85,9 +109,22 @@ mv -f "${tmpfile}" "${outfile}"
 
 echo
 echo --- output file:
-ls -l  "${outfile}" && exit 0
+ls -l  "${outfile}" 
+if [ $? -ne 0 ]; then
+    _err "ERROR: unable to write target file $outfile."
+    exit 4
+fi
 
-echo "ERROR: unable to write target file $outfile."
-exit 4
+grep '<\%\=\ *\@replace\[\"' ${outfile} >/dev/null
+if [ $? -eq 0 ]; then
+    echo
+    _warn "WARNING: Maybe you need to verify replacements (can be a false positive)"
+    grep '<\%\=\ *\@replace\[\"' ${outfile}
+else
+    _ok "OK" 
+fi
+
+ exit 0
 
-# ----------------------------------------------------------------------
\ No newline at end of file
+
+# ----------------------------------------------------------------------