diff --git a/process.c b/process.c
index f7af1968..8af960a0 100644
--- a/process.c
+++ b/process.c
@@ -618,6 +618,7 @@ sys_clone(tcp)
 struct tcb *tcp;
 {
 	if (exiting(tcp)) {
+		const char *sep = "|";
 		unsigned long flags = tcp->u_arg[ARG_FLAGS];
 		tprintf("child_stack=%#lx, ", tcp->u_arg[ARG_STACK]);
 # ifdef ARG_STACKSIZE
@@ -626,9 +627,10 @@ struct tcb *tcp;
 				tcp->u_arg[ARG_STACKSIZE]);
 # endif
 		tprintf("flags=");
-		printflags(clone_flags, flags &~ CSIGNAL, NULL);
+		if (!printflags(clone_flags, flags &~ CSIGNAL, NULL))
+			sep = "";
 		if ((flags & CSIGNAL) != 0)
-			tprintf("|%s", signame(flags & CSIGNAL));
+			tprintf("%s%s", sep, signame(flags & CSIGNAL));
 		if ((flags & (CLONE_PARENT_SETTID|CLONE_CHILD_SETTID
 			      |CLONE_CHILD_CLEARTID|CLONE_SETTLS)) == 0)
 			return 0;