diff --git a/plugins/system/cpu_ b/plugins/system/cpu_
index d7dd4ecc..3a3750e0 100755
--- a/plugins/system/cpu_
+++ b/plugins/system/cpu_
@@ -87,9 +87,7 @@ emit_values()
 {
 	while read key user nice system idle iowait irq softirq steal guest guest_nice
 	do
-		if [ "$guest_nice" == "" ]; then
-			guest_nice=0
-		fi
+		[ "$guest_nice" = "" ] && guest_nice=0
 		[ "$key" != "$1" ] && continue
 		cat <<EOF
 system.value $system