diff --git a/.profile b/.profile
index b8a6fd90..9d04f876 100755
--- a/.profile
+++ b/.profile
@@ -43,8 +43,8 @@ for path in $desiredpath; do
 done
 unset IFS
 # We remove any prepending colons to make it appear neater
-while [ "${PATH:0:1}" == ":" ]; do
-	PATH="${PATH:1}"
+while [ "${PATH#:}" != "$PATH" ]; do
+	PATH="${PATH#:}"
 done
 # Then finally set up our path
 PATH="$desiredpath:$PATH"