diff --git a/src/etc/ksh.kshrc b/src/etc/ksh.kshrc
index e3dcd0e5..05cceb51 100644
--- a/src/etc/ksh.kshrc
+++ b/src/etc/ksh.kshrc
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 :
-#	$OpenBSD: ksh.kshrc,v 1.28 2017/07/15 07:11:42 tb Exp $
+#	$OpenBSD: ksh.kshrc,v 1.29 2017/11/02 10:19:06 tb Exp $
 #
 # NAME:
 #	ksh.kshrc - global initialization for ksh
@@ -74,9 +74,7 @@ case "$-" in
 	xterm*)
 		ILS='\033]1;'; ILE='\007'
 		WLS='\033]2;'; WLE='\007'
-		if ps -p $PPID -o command | grep -q telnet; then
-			export TERM=xterms
-		fi
+		pgrep -qxs $PPID telnet && export TERM=xterms
 		;;
 	*)	;;
 	esac