diff --git a/src/scripts/xzgrep.in b/src/scripts/xzgrep.in
index 9e25b53a..d8e9bb58 100644
--- a/src/scripts/xzgrep.in
+++ b/src/scripts/xzgrep.in
@@ -195,7 +195,8 @@ for i; do
     fi >&3 5>&-
   )
   r=$?
-  test "$xz_status" -eq 0 || test "$xz_status" -eq 2 || r=2
+  test "$xz_status" -eq 0 || test "$xz_status" -eq 2 \
+      || test "$(kill -l "$xz_status" 2> /dev/null)" = "PIPE" || r=2
   test $res -lt $r && res=$r
 done
 exit $res