diff --git a/lib/modules/Stdio.pmod/module.pmod b/lib/modules/Stdio.pmod/module.pmod
index b9febf81a8af66563ef1acf722d08d6895195229..e803b1e45e32bc3a85c0de088c71c0171e4d7690 100644
--- a/lib/modules/Stdio.pmod/module.pmod
+++ b/lib/modules/Stdio.pmod/module.pmod
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-// $Id: module.pmod,v 1.79 2000/03/27 12:28:07 grubba Exp $
+// $Id: module.pmod,v 1.80 2000/06/22 13:13:12 noring Exp $
 
 import String;
 
@@ -845,7 +845,10 @@ int mkdirhier (string dir, void|int mode)
 int recursive_rm (string path)
 {
   int res = 1;
-  if ( file_stat( path, 1 )[1] == -2 )
+  array a = file_stat(path, 1);
+  if(!a)
+    return 0;
+  if(a[1] == -2)
     if (array(string) sub = get_dir (path))
       foreach( sub, string name )
         if (!recursive_rm (path + "/" + name))