diff --git a/script/tei2korapxml b/script/tei2korapxml
index da2cec6..df4150a 100755
--- a/script/tei2korapxml
+++ b/script/tei2korapxml
@@ -259,7 +259,7 @@
 
     # TODO: yet not tested fo big amounts of data
     # must-have, otherwise comments in input could be fatal (e.g.: ...<!--\n<idsHeader...\n-->...)
-    remove_xml_comments( $input_fh, $_ ); # remove HTML comments (<!--...-->)
+    $_ = remove_xml_comments( $input_fh, $_ ); # remove HTML comments (<!--...-->)
 
     if ( $data_fl && ($pos = index($_, '</' . $_TEXT_BODY)) >= 0) {