diff --git a/sys/kern/makesyscalls.sh b/sys/kern/makesyscalls.sh
index 5ff5f3d81d4c..26b06df4e645 100644
--- a/sys/kern/makesyscalls.sh
+++ b/sys/kern/makesyscalls.sh
@@ -47,7 +47,7 @@ systracetmp="systrace.$$"
 systraceret="systraceret.$$"
 
 if [ -r capabilities.conf ]; then
-	capenabled=`cat capabilities.conf | grep -v "^#" | grep -v "^$"`
+	capenabled=`egrep -v '^#|^$' capabilities.conf`
 	capenabled=`echo $capenabled | sed 's/ /,/g'`
 else
 	capenabled=""