diff --git a/bin/sde-list-files b/bin/sde-list-files
index d73dc0e..5909ce0 100755
--- a/bin/sde-list-files
+++ b/bin/sde-list-files
@@ -3,7 +3,7 @@
 # This copyright note is auto-generated by ./scripts/Create-CopyPatch.
 #
 # Filename: bin/sde-list-files
-# Copyright (C) 2007 - 2008 The OpenSDE Project
+# Copyright (C) 2007 - 2009 The OpenSDE Project
 #
 # More information can be found in the files COPYING and README.
 #
@@ -87,7 +87,7 @@ for x; do
 	elif [ -e "$PWD/$x" ]; then
 		# $PWD relative
 		y="$PWD/$x"
-	elif [ "${x:0:1}" = "/" -a -e "$x" ]; then
+	elif [ "$(echo "$x" | cut -c1)" = "/" -a -e "$x" ]; then
 		# absolute
 		y="$x"
 	elif [ -e "$SDEROOT/package"/*/"$x" ]; then