diff --git a/main.c b/main.c
index 545e080..e55eef4 100644
--- a/main.c
+++ b/main.c
@@ -6,7 +6,7 @@
 #include "mmpriv.h"
 #include "getopt.h"
 
-#define MM_VERSION "2.2-r452-dirty"
+#define MM_VERSION "2.2-r453-dirty"
 
 #ifdef __linux__
 #include <sys/resource.h>
diff --git a/map.c b/map.c
index 184cc5c..c0e4bb0 100644
--- a/map.c
+++ b/map.c
@@ -211,9 +211,11 @@ static mm128_t *collect_seed_hits(const mm_mapopt_t *opt, const mm_idx_t *mi, co
 			mm128_t *p;
 			if (qname && (opt->flag&(MM_F_NO_SELF|MM_F_AVA))) {
 				const char *tname = mi->seq[r[k]>>32].name;
-				if ((opt->flag&MM_F_NO_SELF) && strcmp(qname, tname) == 0 && rpos == (q->qpos>>1)) // avoid the diagonal
+				int cmp;
+				cmp = strcmp(qname, tname);
+				if ((opt->flag&MM_F_NO_SELF) && cmp == 0 && rpos == (q->qpos>>1)) // avoid the diagonal
 					continue;
-				if ((opt->flag&MM_F_AVA) && strcmp(qname, tname) > 0) // all-vs-all mode: map once
+				if ((opt->flag&MM_F_AVA) && cmp > 0) // all-vs-all mode: map once
 					continue;
 			}
 			p = &a[(*n_a)++];