diff --git a/git/bin/git-purge b/git/bin/git-purge
index aad3a94..6ebacbe 100755
--- a/git/bin/git-purge
+++ b/git/bin/git-purge
@@ -1,3 +1,9 @@
 #!/usr/bin/env sh
 
-git branch --merged|egrep -v "(^*|master|dev)" | xargs git branch -d
+BRANCHES=$(git branch --merged|egrep -v "(^\*|master|dev)")
+
+if [ -z "${BRANCHES}" ] ; then
+    echo "Nothing to delete"
+else
+    git branch -d ${BRANCHES}
+fi