diff --git a/counts.txt b/counts.txt
deleted file mode 100644
index e69de29..0000000
diff --git a/dictionary.txt b/dictionary.txt
deleted file mode 100644
index e69de29..0000000
diff --git a/passphrase.nimble b/passphrase.nimble
index fabdfc4..5e47488 100644
--- a/passphrase.nimble
+++ b/passphrase.nimble
@@ -26,25 +26,13 @@ proc runCmd(command: string, input = "", cache = ""): string =
     quit(exitCode)
   result = output
 
-proc pathExists(filename: string): bool =
-  let (output, code) = gorgeEx("ls " & filename)
-  return code == 0
-
 
 task(dictionary, "Generate dictionary from BNC XML files"):
-  if not pathExists("BNC"):
-    quit("Cannot build dictionary: BNC data files not found.", 1)
   echo "Building dictionary"
-  echo runCmd("nim c --run --threads:on -d:release -d:lto src/process.nim")
-
-
-task(showexec, "this is a test"):
-  let (output, exitCode) = gorgeEx("ls BNC")
-  echo output
-  echo exitCode
-
+  let output = runCmd("nim c --run --threads:on -d:release -d:lto src/process.nim BNC/2554/download/Texts src/")
+  echo output.strip().splitlines()[^1]
 
 
 before(build):
-  if not pathExists("src/dictionary.txt"):
+  if not dirExists("src/dictionary.txt"):
     dictionaryTask()
diff --git a/src/process.nim b/src/process.nim
index 4b1bffb..c4badb7 100644
--- a/src/process.nim
+++ b/src/process.nim
@@ -51,6 +51,9 @@ when isMainModule:
       paramStr(1)
     else:
       r"../BNC/2554/download/Texts/"
+
+  if not dirExists(basePath):
+    quit("Could not locate datafiles: directory " & basePath & " does not exist.")
   
   var paths: seq[string]
   for path in walkDirRec(basePath):
@@ -76,6 +79,15 @@ when isMainModule:
       counts.inc(word, count)
 
   counts.sort()
-  save(counts, "dictionary.txt", "counts.txt")
+  let outPath = 
+    if paramCount() > 1:
+      paramStr(2)
+    else:
+      "."
+  
+  let
+    dPath = joinPath(outPath, "dictionary.txt")
+    cPath = joinPath(outPath, "counts.txt")
+  save(counts, dPath, cPath)
 
   echo "Done. Finished in ", (getMonoTime() - start).inMilliseconds.float / 1000, " seconds."