diff --git a/README b/README
index 6225b2d..ec5abc6 100644
--- a/README
+++ b/README
@@ -120,7 +120,8 @@ ENVIRONMENT
 
 FILES
        Data  is  stored  in  $HOME/.z.  This  can be overridden by setting the
-       $_Z_DATA environment variable.
+       $_Z_DATA environment variable. When initialized, z will raise an  error
+       if this path is a directory, and not function correctly.
 
        A man page (z.1) is provided.
 
diff --git a/z.1 b/z.1
index 2ba6de7..6525bf1 100644
--- a/z.1
+++ b/z.1
@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@ NAME
 z \- jump around
 .SH
 SYNOPSIS
-z [\-chlrt] [regex1 regex2 ... regexn]
+z [\-chlrtx] [regex1 regex2 ... regexn]
 .SH
 AVAILABILITY
 bash, zsh
@@ -31,6 +31,9 @@ match by rank only
 .TP
 \fB\-t\fR
 match by recent access only
+.TP
+\fB\-x\fR
+remove the current directory from the datafile
 .SH EXAMPLES
 .TP 14
 \fBz foo\fR
@@ -144,7 +147,8 @@ Directories must be full paths without trailing slashes.
 .SH
 FILES
 Data is stored in \fB$HOME/.z\fR. This can be overridden by setting the
-\fB$_Z_DATA\fR environment variable.
+\fB$_Z_DATA\fR environment variable. When initialized, \fBz\fR will raise an
+error if this path is a directory, and not function correctly.
 .P
 A man page (\fBz.1\fR) is provided.
 .SH
diff --git a/z.sh b/z.sh
index e19845d..187284c 100644
--- a/z.sh
+++ b/z.sh
@@ -27,6 +27,10 @@ case $- in
    *) echo 'ERROR: z.sh is meant to be sourced, not directly executed.'
 esac
 
+[ -d "${_Z_DATA:-$HOME/.z}" ] && {
+    echo "ERROR: z.sh's datafile (${_Z_DATA:-$HOME/.z}) is a directory."
+}
+
 _z() {
 
  local datafile="${_Z_DATA:-$HOME/.z}"
@@ -104,7 +108,8 @@ _z() {
    --) while [ "$1" ]; do shift; local fnd="$fnd $1";done;;
    -*) local opt=${1:1}; while [ "$opt" ]; do case ${opt:0:1} in
         c) local fnd="^$PWD $fnd";;
-        h) echo "${_Z_CMD:-z} [-chlrt] args" >&2; return;;
+        h) echo "${_Z_CMD:-z} [-chlrtx] args" >&2; return;;
+        x) sed -i "\:^${PWD}|.*:d" "$datafile";;
         l) local list=1;;
         r) local typ="rank";;
         t) local typ="recent";;