diff --git a/sys/src/9/boot/bootrc b/sys/src/9/boot/bootrc
index 61da33c0d..c9f2af30e 100644
--- a/sys/src/9/boot/bootrc
+++ b/sys/src/9/boot/bootrc
@@ -42,7 +42,7 @@ fn ask {
 	echo -n $1
 	echo -n $2
 	if(! ~ $#3 0){
-		echo -n ' ['
+		echo -n '['
 		echo -n $3
 		echo -n '] '
 	}
diff --git a/sys/src/9/boot/net.rc b/sys/src/9/boot/net.rc
index 946361027..461564747 100755
--- a/sys/src/9/boot/net.rc
+++ b/sys/src/9/boot/net.rc
@@ -7,9 +7,9 @@ fn confignet{
 	if(~ $#auth 0)
 		auth=`{awk -F'=' '/auth=/{print $2; exit}' /net/ndb}
 	if(~ $#fs 0)
-		ask fs ' ip is?' $auth
+		ask fs ' ip is? ' $auth
 	if(~ $#auth 0)
-		ask auth ' ip is?' $fs
+		ask auth ' ip is? ' $fs
 }
 
 fn connecttcp{