diff -ru a/src/tabbar.c b/src/tabbar.c
--- a/src/tabbar.c	2009-08-19 21:12:48.000000000 +0000
+++ b/src/tabbar.c	2009-08-19 21:13:35.000000000 +0000
@@ -1314,7 +1314,7 @@
 		if( p.we_wordc > 1)
 		    rxvt_msg( DBG_ERROR, DBG_TABBAR,
 			    "Too many words when expanding %s\n", cwdOption );
-		else
+               else if( NOT_NULL( *p.we_wordv ) )
 		{
 		    filename = *p.we_wordv;