skip=cut inst=[...] statements being ignored

The following skip statement (included via "definitions file") works fine :-

       myScopedOpts options skip=cut inst=[i10.i0*] 

But it does not work when I try to use this:-

     myScopedOpts options skip=cut inst=[i10.i0\<3\> i10.i0\<2\>]         

I get the following warning message in the spectre.out file:-

Warning from spectre during hierarchy flattening.
WARNING (SFE-465): Can not find local option scope `i10.i0<2>' of options statement(options ignored).
WARNING (SFE-465): Can not find local option scope `i10.i0<3>' of options statement(options ignored).

I've also tried cutting all of them and then use skip=none for those I want included (same problem).

Any idea where I'm going wrong. 

Thank you.