diff --git a/builtin-rm.c b/builtin-rm.c
index 57975dbcfd..f3772c84de 100644
--- a/builtin-rm.c
+++ b/builtin-rm.c
@@ -169,9 +169,10 @@ int cmd_rm(int argc, const char **argv, const char *prefix)
 
 	if (read_cache() < 0)
 		die("index file corrupt");
-	refresh_cache(REFRESH_QUIET);
 
 	pathspec = get_pathspec(prefix, argv);
+	refresh_index(&the_index, REFRESH_QUIET, pathspec, NULL, NULL);
+
 	seen = NULL;
 	for (i = 0; pathspec[i] ; i++)
 		/* nothing */;