diff 369cba5f938d3f804210b6e09d36c6f7ecb017fa uncommitted
--- a/sys/src/libc/port/reduce
+++ b/sys/src/libc/port/reduce
@@ -2,15 +2,11 @@
 shift
 objtype=$1
 shift
-
-ls -p ../$objtype/*.[cs] >[2]/dev/null | sed 's/..$//;s/^/^/' > /tmp/reduce.$pid
-#
-#	if empty directory, just return the input files
-#
-if (! ~ $status '|') {
+if(ls -p ../$objtype/*.[cs] >[2]/dev/null | sed 's/..$//;s/^/^/' > /tmp/reduce.$pid) {
+	echo $* | tr ' ' \012 | grep -v -f /tmp/reduce.$pid | tr \012 ' '
+}
+if not {
+	# if empty directory, just return the input files
 	echo $*
-	rm /tmp/reduce.$pid
-	exit 0
 }
-echo $* | tr ' ' \012 | grep -v -f /tmp/reduce.$pid | tr \012 ' '
 rm /tmp/reduce.$pid