diff --git a/language/buildNumber.properties b/language/buildNumber.properties
index c9bdedbd0..9348490a4 100644
--- a/language/buildNumber.properties
+++ b/language/buildNumber.properties
@@ -1,3 +1,3 @@
 #maven.buildNumber.plugin properties file
-#Mon Mar 25 10:44:26 CDT 2024
-buildNumber\\d*=12860
+#Wed Mar 27 14:15:30 CDT 2024
+buildNumber\\d*=12888
diff --git a/language/src/main/java/edu/uiuc/ncsa/qdl/evaluate/StemEvaluator.java b/language/src/main/java/edu/uiuc/ncsa/qdl/evaluate/StemEvaluator.java
index 051838c95..8867bb0d8 100644
--- a/language/src/main/java/edu/uiuc/ncsa/qdl/evaluate/StemEvaluator.java
+++ b/language/src/main/java/edu/uiuc/ncsa/qdl/evaluate/StemEvaluator.java
@@ -1982,7 +1982,7 @@ protected void doHasKey(Polyad polyad, State state) {
             }
             // if neither is a scalar, do the next bit,
         }
-        QDLStem result = leftArg.hasKeys(rightArg);
+        QDLStem result = leftArg.hasKey(rightArg);
         polyad.setEvaluated(true);
         polyad.setResult(result);
         polyad.setResultType(STEM_TYPE);
@@ -2592,6 +2592,7 @@ protected void doShuffle(Polyad polyad, State state) {
      * The result is that each key in arg. is renamed, but the values are not changed.
      * If a key is in indices. and does not correspond to one on the left, it is skipped,
      * by subsetting rule.
+     * If  a key is indices and the old and new value are the same, it is skipped.
      * <br/><br/> Limitations are that it applies to the zeroth axis, modifies arg. and
      * the indices. are different than remap.
      *
diff --git a/language/src/main/java/edu/uiuc/ncsa/qdl/variables/QDLStem.java b/language/src/main/java/edu/uiuc/ncsa/qdl/variables/QDLStem.java
index 3a0522dd4..69afe9f70 100644
--- a/language/src/main/java/edu/uiuc/ncsa/qdl/variables/QDLStem.java
+++ b/language/src/main/java/edu/uiuc/ncsa/qdl/variables/QDLStem.java
@@ -786,8 +786,9 @@ public QDLStem commonKeys(QDLStem arg2) {
       */
     public void renameKeys(QDLStem newKeys, boolean overWriteKeys) {
         for (Object oldKey : newKeys.keySet()) {
+            Object newKey = newKeys.get(oldKey);
+            if(newKey.equals(oldKey)) continue;
             if (containsKey(oldKey)) {
-                Object newKey = newKeys.get(oldKey);
                 if (containsKey(newKey)) {
                     if (overWriteKeys) {
                         Object oldValue = get(oldKey);
@@ -853,21 +854,29 @@ public QDLStem includeKeys(QDLStem keyList) {
      */
     public QDLStem hasKeys(QDLStem keyList) {
         QDLStem result = newInstance();
-        for(Object k : keySet()){
-            result.putLongOrString(k, keyList.containsKey(k));
+        if(!keyList.isList()){
+            throw new IllegalArgumentException("has keys requires a list");
+        }
+        for(Object ndx : keyList.getQDLList().orderedKeys()){
+            result.put((Long)ndx, containsKey(keyList.get((Long)ndx))); // since we know it's a list
         }
-/*        for (int i = 0; i < keyList.size(); i++) {
-            // for loop to be sure that everything is done in order.
-            String index = Integer.toString(i);
-            if (!keyList.containsKey(index)) {
-                throw new IllegalArgumentException("the set of supplied keys is not a list");
-            }
-            result.put(index, containsKey(keyList.get(index).toString()));
-        }*/
         return result;
     }
 
+    /**
+     * Modern successor to the deprecated {@link #hasKeys(QDLStem)}. This returns a left conformable
+     * stem as it should.
+     * @param keyList
+     * @return
+     */
+    public QDLStem hasKey(QDLStem keyList) {
+    QDLStem result = newInstance();
 
+    for(Object k : keySet()){
+        result.putLongOrString(k, keyList.containsKey(k));
+    }
+    return result;
+}
     /* ********
          IndexEntry operations
        ********* */
diff --git a/tests/src/test/java/edu/uiuc/ncsa/qdl/ParserTest.java b/tests/src/test/java/edu/uiuc/ncsa/qdl/ParserTest.java
index 23d8b3722..29ee8f70f 100644
--- a/tests/src/test/java/edu/uiuc/ncsa/qdl/ParserTest.java
+++ b/tests/src/test/java/edu/uiuc/ncsa/qdl/ParserTest.java
@@ -1154,11 +1154,12 @@ public void testHasKey2() throws Throwable {
      * @throws Throwable
      */
     public void testHasKeys() throws Throwable {
+        // Part of https://github.com/ncsa/qdl/issues/46
         State state = testUtils.getNewState();
         StringBuffer script = new StringBuffer();
         addLine(script, "var. := random(5);");
         addLine(script, "w. := n(10);");
-        addLine(script, "z. := has_keys(w., var.);");
+        addLine(script, "z. := has_keys( var., w.);");
         QDLInterpreter interpreter = new QDLInterpreter(null, state);
         interpreter.execute(script.toString());
         // so the first 5 entries are true, the next 5 are false.