diff --git a/code/setup/setup_code.py b/code/setup/setup_code.py
index 9f8f0efbc..54c6dc5e1 100755
--- a/code/setup/setup_code.py
+++ b/code/setup/setup_code.py
@@ -31,5 +31,5 @@ for arch in architectures:
 
 os.system('make --directory %s'%wd)
 
-if not '--noclean' in [s.lower() for s in sys.argv]:
+if '--clean' in [s.lower() for s in sys.argv]:
   os.system('make --directory %s clean'%wd)