diff --git a/lib/tokenize.cpp b/lib/tokenize.cpp
index 4bb7268f5d9..16c4d6ff7a1 100644
--- a/lib/tokenize.cpp
+++ b/lib/tokenize.cpp
@@ -5249,7 +5249,7 @@ void Tokenizer::createLinks2()
         } else if (token->str() == "<" &&
                    ((token->previous() && (token->previous()->isTemplate() ||
                                            (token->previous()->isName() && !token->previous()->varId()) ||
-                                           (token->strAt(-1) == "]" && (!Token::Match(token->linkAt(-1)->previous(), "%name%|)") || token->linkAt(-1)->previous()->isKeyword())))) ||
+                                           (Token::Match(token->tokAt(-1), "]|)") && (!Token::Match(token->linkAt(-1)->previous(), "%name%|)") || token->linkAt(-1)->previous()->isKeyword())))) ||
                     Token::Match(token->next(), ">|>>"))) {
             type.push(token);
             if (token->previous()->str() == "template")
diff --git a/test/testtokenize.cpp b/test/testtokenize.cpp
index fc8558bc921..2e0972d07b8 100644
--- a/test/testtokenize.cpp
+++ b/test/testtokenize.cpp
@@ -3531,6 +3531,25 @@ class TestTokenizer : public TestFixture {
             ASSERT_EQUALS(true, tok1->link() == tok2);
             ASSERT_EQUALS(true, tok2->link() == tok1);
         }
+
+        {
+            const char code[] = "struct S {\n" // #11840
+                                "    template<typename T, typename U>\n"
+                                "    void operator() (int);\n"
+                                "};\n"
+                                "void f() {\n"
+                                "    S s;\n"
+                                "    s.operator()<int, int>(1);\n"
+                                "}\n";
+            errout.str("");
+            Tokenizer tokenizer(&settings0, this);
+            std::istringstream istr(code);
+            ASSERT(tokenizer.tokenize(istr, "test.cpp"));
+            const Token* tok1 = Token::findsimplematch(tokenizer.tokens(), "< int");
+            const Token* tok2 = Token::findsimplematch(tok1, "> (");
+            ASSERT_EQUALS(true, tok1->link() == tok2);
+            ASSERT_EQUALS(true, tok2->link() == tok1);
+        }
     }
 
     void simplifyString() {