diff --git a/builtin-grep.c b/builtin-grep.c
index c7b45c4d58..185876b0a6 100644
--- a/builtin-grep.c
+++ b/builtin-grep.c
@@ -343,7 +343,7 @@ static int external_grep(struct grep_opt *opt, const char **paths, int cached)
 			memcpy(name + 2, ce->name, len + 1);
 		}
 		argv[argc++] = name;
-		if (argc < MAXARGS && !ce_stage(ce))
+		if (argc < MAXARGS)
 			continue;
 		status = flush_grep(opt, argc, nr, argv, &kept);
 		if (0 < status)