diff -u nano/files.c nano-testpatch/files.c
--- nano/files.c	Wed Mar 27 20:59:34 2002
+++ nano-testpatch/files.c	Thu Mar 28 05:23:14 2002
@@ -472,6 +472,14 @@
 	}
 #endif
 
+#ifndef NANO_SMALL
+	if (i == NANO_EXTCMD_KEY) {
+	    int ts;
+	    ts = statusq(1, extcmd_list, "", _("Command to execute "));
+	    if (ts==-1  || answer==NULL || !strcmp(answer,"")) goto Cancelled;
+	}
+#endif
+
 #ifdef ENABLE_MULTIBUFFER
 	if (loading_file) {
 
@@ -485,16 +493,7 @@
 
 #ifndef NANO_SMALL
 	if (i == NANO_EXTCMD_KEY) {
-	    i = statusq(1, extcmd_list, "", _("Command to execute "));
-	    if (i == -1) {
-		statusbar(_("Cancelled"));
-		UNSET(KEEP_CUTBUFFER);
-		display_main_list();
-		return 0;
-	    }
-	    if (answer != NULL) {
-		i = open_pipe(answer);
-	    }
+	    i = open_pipe(answer);
 	}
 	else 
 #endif /* NANO_SMALL */
@@ -543,6 +542,9 @@
 	display_main_list();
 	return i;
     } else {
+#ifndef NANO_SMALL
+Cancelled:
+#endif
 	statusbar(_("Cancelled"));
 	UNSET(KEEP_CUTBUFFER);
 	display_main_list();