diff --git a/lib/badge.js b/lib/badge.js
index <HASH>..<HASH> 100644
--- a/lib/badge.js
+++ b/lib/badge.js
@@ -7,7 +7,7 @@ const pad = 8; // left / right padding
 const sep = 4; // middle separation
 
 export default function badge({ total, active }){
-  let value = active ? `${active}/${total}` : (total || '–');
+  let value = active ? `${active}/${total}` : ('' + total || '–');
   let lw = pad + width(title) + sep; // left side width
   let rw = sep + width(value) + pad; // right side width
   let tw = lw + rw; // total width
@@ -34,5 +34,5 @@ function text({str, x, y}){
 
 // π=3
 function width(str){
-  return 7 * String(str).length;
+  return 7 * str.length;
 }
this is better

apparently '' + number is (a lot) faster than String(number) or number.toString():
<URL>