diff --git a/src/modules/punk-0.1.tm b/src/modules/punk-0.1.tm
index 22ee0d53..5cf5f1b5 100644
--- a/src/modules/punk-0.1.tm
+++ b/src/modules/punk-0.1.tm
@@ -5866,24 +5866,37 @@ namespace eval punk {
                 #we have already done a 'cd' if only one unglobbed path was supplied - therefore any remaining non-glob tails must be tested for folderness vs fileness to see what they mean
                 #this may be slightly surprising if user tries to exactly match both a directory name and a file in that the dir will be listed - but is consistent enough.
                 #lower level dirfiles or dirfiles_dict can be used to more precisely craft searches. ( d/ will treat  dir the same as dir/*)
+
+                set searchspec_relative [expr {[file pathtype $searchspec] eq "relative"}]
                 if {$has_tailglob} {
                     set location [file dirname $path]
                     set glob [file tail $path]
+                    if {$searchspec_relative} {
+                        set searchbase [pwd]
+                    } else {
+                        set searchbase [file dirname $searchspec]
+                    }
                 } else {
                     if {[file isdirectory $path]} {
                         set location $path
                         set glob *
+                        if {$searchspec_relative} {
+                           set searchbase [pwd] 
+                        } else {
+                            set searchbase $path
+                        }
                     } else {
                         set location [file dirname $path]
                         set glob [file tail $path] ;#search for exact match file
+                        if {$searchspec_relative} {
+                            set searchbase [pwd] 
+                        } else {
+                            set searchbase [file dirname $path]
+                        }
                     }
                 }
+                set matchinfo [punk::dirfiles_dict -searchbase $searchbase -tailglob $glob $location] 
 
-                if {[file pathtype $searchspec] eq "absolute"} {
-                    set matchinfo [punk::dirfiles_dict -searchbase "" -tailglob $glob $location] 
-                } else {
-                    set matchinfo [punk::dirfiles_dict -searchbase [pwd] -tailglob $glob $location] 
-                }
 
                 set location [file normalize [dict get $matchinfo location]]
                 if {$location ne $last_location} {