diff --git a/rc/bin/broke b/rc/bin/broke
index d843483eb..585b3c884 100755
--- a/rc/bin/broke
+++ b/rc/bin/broke
@@ -1,8 +1,8 @@
 #!/bin/rc
-U=`{cat /dev/user}
+rfork e
 if(~ $#* 1){
-	U=$1
+	user=$1
 }
-ps | sed -n '/^'$U' .* Broken/s%[^ ]*  *%~>/proc/%
+ps | sed -n '/^'$user' .* Broken/s%[^ ]*  *%~>/proc/%
 s%  *.* (.*)%/ctl # \1%
 s%~%echo kill%p'
diff --git a/rc/bin/kill b/rc/bin/kill
index 5df69b7dc..5414b8277 100755
--- a/rc/bin/kill
+++ b/rc/bin/kill
@@ -1,8 +1,7 @@
 #!/bin/rc
 rfork e
-U=`{cat /dev/user}
 for(i){
-	ps | sed -n '/^'$U' .* '$i'$/s%[^ ]*  *%~>/proc/%
+	ps | sed -n '/^'$user' .* '$i'$/s%[^ ]*  *%~>/proc/%
 	s%  *.* (.*)%/note} # \1%
 	s%~%@{echo kill%p'
 }
diff --git a/rc/bin/slay b/rc/bin/slay
index 67d9c9f7f..60c8272c9 100755
--- a/rc/bin/slay
+++ b/rc/bin/slay
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 #!/bin/rc
-U=`{cat /dev/user}
+rfork e
 for(i){
-	ps | sed -n '/^'$U' .* '$i'$/s%[^ ]*  *%~>/proc/%
+	ps | sed -n '/^'$user' .* '$i'$/s%[^ ]*  *%~>/proc/%
 	s%  *.* (.*)%/ctl} # \1%
 	s%~%@{echo kill%p'
 }