diff --git a/textarchive/vlib001.pl b/textarchive/vlib001.pl
index 42d7532142c92ade5c83eff40dc5e96563ca1c96..2a789b9e65c3a138d1029a7976ea682a2b195ea0 100755
--- a/textarchive/vlib001.pl
+++ b/textarchive/vlib001.pl
@@ -139,8 +139,8 @@ else
 # &usage ('no project specified') unless (defined ($project));
 unless (defined ($project))
 {
-  print "no project specified; check these:\n";
-  system ('ls -ls "$TAPROJ"');
+  print "no project specified; check these (TAPROJ=[$TAPROJ]):\n";
+  system ('ls', '-ls', $TAPROJ);
   exit (2);
 }