diff --git a/atom b/atom
index 7bd86e8..c1f9a53 100755
--- a/atom
+++ b/atom
@@ -1520,7 +1520,7 @@ do
 		tmpfile
 done
 echo 'COMMIT;' >&3
-echo -e "\rCreated $count tasks for $filecount files"
+echo -e "\rCreated ${count:-0} tasks for $filecount files"
 unset count
 
 closeDatabase