diff --git a/new b/new
index bb427f0d..357983d9 100755
--- a/new
+++ b/new
@@ -243,10 +243,7 @@ else
     #
     for g in $*
     do
-	if grep "^$g[ 	]" $tdir/group >/dev/null
-	then
-	    :
-	else
+	if ! grep -q "[[:space:]]$g" "$tdir/group"; then
 	    echo "Warning: group \"$g\" not defined in $tdir/group"
 	fi
     done