diff --git a/package/gluon-mesh-babel/files/lib/gluon/state/check.d/has_neighbours b/package/gluon-mesh-babel/files/lib/gluon/state/check.d/has_neighbours
index 652d6099496e7e885891aa84e887b4b356b57307..b0f5aa34fde5f3f5568fb3cf208cec41929b2a02 100644
--- a/package/gluon-mesh-babel/files/lib/gluon/state/check.d/has_neighbours
+++ b/package/gluon-mesh-babel/files/lib/gluon/state/check.d/has_neighbours
@@ -1,2 +1,2 @@
 #!/bin/sh
-out=$(echo dump | nc ::1 33123 | grep "add neighbour" 2>/dev/null) && [ -n "$out" ]
+echo dump | nc ::1 33123 | grep -qF "add neighbour"