diff --git a/configure b/configure
index a86371a95..b14618039 100755
--- a/configure
+++ b/configure
@@ -2785,9 +2785,11 @@ echo "$as_me:$LINENO: checking to see if cat works as expected" >&5
 echo $ECHO_N "checking to see if cat works as expected... $ECHO_C" >&6
 echo a >cygwin-cat-check
 if test `cat cygwin-cat-check` == a ; then
+  rm cygwin-cat-check
   echo "$as_me:$LINENO: result: yes" >&5
 echo "${ECHO_T}yes" >&6
 else
+  rm cygwin-cat-check
   echo "$as_me:$LINENO: result: no" >&5
 echo "${ECHO_T}no" >&6
   { { echo "$as_me:$LINENO: error: The cat command does not ignore carriage return characters.
@@ -2804,7 +2806,6 @@ export SHELLOPTS
   " >&2;}
    { (exit 1); exit 1; }; }
 fi
-rm cygwin-cat-check
 
     host_makefile_frag="config/mh-cygwin"
     ;;