diff --git a/usr.bin/pr/pr.c b/usr.bin/pr/pr.c
index 2e0376ef9f93..941b8fe7f4ae 100644
--- a/usr.bin/pr/pr.c
+++ b/usr.bin/pr/pr.c
@@ -1590,6 +1590,7 @@ setup(argc, argv)
 		 * defer diagnostics until processing is done
 		 */
 		if ((err = tmpfile()) == NULL) {
+		       err = stderr;
 		       (void)fputs("Cannot defer diagnostic messages\n",stderr);
 		       return(1);
 		}