diff --git a/include/arc/std/hashtable.h b/include/arc/std/hashtable.h
index 16b3648..965762e 100644
--- a/include/arc/std/hashtable.h
+++ b/include/arc/std/hashtable.h
@@ -104,6 +104,15 @@ void ARC_Hashtable_Clear(ARC_Hashtable *hashtable);
 */
 void *ARC_Hashtable_Get(ARC_Hashtable *hashtable, void *key);
 
+/**
+ * @brief gets the number of elements stored in the hashtable
+ *
+ * @param[in] hashtable the hashtable to get number of elements from
+ *
+ * @return the size of the vector
+*/
+uint32_t ARC_Hashtable_GetSize(ARC_Hashtable *hashtable);
+
 /**
  * @brief iterates through a hashtable passing available key value pairs to a callback
  *
diff --git a/src/std/chemical.c b/src/std/chemical.c
index 03a0eef..4cb3578 100644
--- a/src/std/chemical.c
+++ b/src/std/chemical.c
@@ -16,6 +16,8 @@ struct ARC_Chemical {
 
     ARC_Hashtable *groups;
     ARC_Hashtable *currentGroup;
+
+    ARC_Bool load;
 };
 
 typedef struct ARC_ChemicalTypeData {
@@ -313,6 +315,13 @@ void ARC_ChemicalData_RunVariableLineTag(ARC_ParserTagToken *tagToken, ARC_Chemi
     ARC_String_Create(&variableString, NULL, 0);
     ARC_ParserData_HelperRecurseStringAdd(&variableString, childTagToken);
 
+    //check if removing
+    if(chemical->load == ARC_False){
+        ARC_Hashtable_Remove(chemical->currentGroup, (void *)variableString->data);
+        ARC_String_Destroy(variableString);
+        return;
+    }
+
     //check to see if the current variable is already in the current group hashtable
     ARC_ChemicalTypeData *typeData = (ARC_ChemicalTypeData *)ARC_Hashtable_Get(chemical->currentGroup, variableString->data);
     if(typeData != NULL){
@@ -420,6 +429,13 @@ void ARC_ChemicalData_RunGroupTag(ARC_ParserTagToken *tagToken, ARC_Chemical *ch
     ARC_String_Create(&groupVariable, NULL, 0);
     ARC_ParserData_HelperRecurseStringAdd(&groupVariable, childTagToken);
 
+    //check if removing
+    if(chemical->load == ARC_False){
+        //TODO: check if the group is empty and remove it if it is
+        ARC_String_Destroy(groupVariable);
+        return;
+    }
+
     //get the needed hashtable or create it from the groups hashtable
     ARC_Hashtable *groupHashtable = ARC_Hashtable_Get(chemical->groups, (void *)groupVariable->data);
     if(groupHashtable == NULL){
@@ -577,6 +593,8 @@ void ARC_Chemical_Create(ARC_Chemical **chemical){
     ARC_Hashtable_Create(&((*chemical)->currentGroup), NULL, &keyCompareFn, &groupDataDestroyKeyValueFn);
     ARC_Hashtable_Add((*chemical)->groups, (void *)emptyCStr, (*chemical)->currentGroup);
 
+    (*chemical)->load = ARC_True;
+
     //cleanup
     ARC_String_Destroy(languageString);
 }
@@ -691,16 +709,22 @@ void *ARC_Chemical_GetWithCStr(ARC_Chemical *chemical, const char *element){
 }
 
 void ARC_Chemical_LoadFromString(ARC_Chemical *chemical, ARC_String **string){
+    chemical->load = ARC_True;
     ARC_Parser_Parse(chemical->parser, string);
 }
 
 void ARC_Chemical_LoadFromFile(ARC_Chemical *chemical, ARC_String *path){
+    chemical->load = ARC_True;
     ARC_Parser_ParseFile(chemical->parser, path);
 }
 
 void ARC_Chemical_UnloadFromString(ARC_Chemical *chemical, ARC_String **string){
+    chemical->load = ARC_False;
+    ARC_Parser_Parse(chemical->parser, string);
 }
 
-void ARC_Chemical_UnloadFromFile(ARC_Chemical *chemical, ARC_String *data){
+void ARC_Chemical_UnloadFromFile(ARC_Chemical *chemical, ARC_String *path){
+    chemical->load = ARC_False;
+    ARC_Parser_ParseFile(chemical->parser, path);
 }
 
diff --git a/src/std/hashtable.c b/src/std/hashtable.c
index e22fa9f..8ccb06d 100644
--- a/src/std/hashtable.c
+++ b/src/std/hashtable.c
@@ -406,6 +406,25 @@ void *ARC_Hashtable_Get(ARC_Hashtable *hashtable, void *key){
     return NULL;
 }
 
+uint32_t ARC_Hashtable_GetSize(ARC_Hashtable *hashtable){
+    uint32_t size = 0;
+
+    //loop through the vector and add iterate the size when the value is not null
+    for(uint32_t index = 0; index < hashtable->currentCapacity; index++){
+        //get the current node
+        ARC_HashtableNode node = hashtable->nodes[index];
+
+        //skip past NULL keys
+        if(node.key == NULL){
+            continue;
+        }
+
+        size++;
+    }
+
+    return size;
+}
+
 void ARC_Hashtable_RunIteration(ARC_Hashtable *hashtable, ARC_Hashtable_IteratorFn iteratorFn, void *userData){
     //pass each non NULL nodes into an iteratorFn callback
     for(uint32_t index = 0; index < hashtable->currentCapacity; index++){