diff --git a/rshell/main.py b/rshell/main.py
index 5bb5b7a..06cdb4f 100755
--- a/rshell/main.py
+++ b/rshell/main.py
@@ -740,7 +740,10 @@ def get_stat(filename):
 def listdir(dirname):
     """Returns a list of filenames contained in the named directory."""
     import os
-    return os.listdir(dirname)
+    try:
+        return os.listdir(dirname)
+    except TypeError:
+        return os.listdir()
 
 
 def listdir_matches(match):