diff --git a/programs/fileio.c b/programs/fileio.c
index 5ab3c5be0..2f51b95cf 100644
--- a/programs/fileio.c
+++ b/programs/fileio.c
@@ -1057,11 +1057,11 @@ int FIO_listFile(const char* inFileName, int displayLevel){
         }
         else if (error == 2) {
             DISPLAYOUT("File %s not compressed with zstd\n\n", inFileName);
-            return 0;
+            return 1;
         }
+        displayInfo(inFileName, &info, displayLevel);
+        return error;
     }
-    displayInfo(inFileName, &info, displayLevel);
-    return 0;
 }
 
 int FIO_compressMultipleFilenames(const char** inFileNamesTable, unsigned nbFiles,
diff --git a/programs/zstdcli.c b/programs/zstdcli.c
index c71e80bdd..a55640351 100644
--- a/programs/zstdcli.c
+++ b/programs/zstdcli.c
@@ -675,7 +675,7 @@ int main(int argCount, const char* argv[])
         }
     }
 #endif
-    if(operation==zom_list){
+    if (operation == zom_list) {
         g_displayOut = stdout;
         if(filenameIdx==0){
             DISPLAY("No files given\n");
@@ -686,12 +686,13 @@ int main(int argCount, const char* argv[])
         DISPLAY("===========================================\n");
         DISPLAY("Number of files listed: %d\n", filenameIdx);
         {
+            int error = 0;
             unsigned u;
             for(u=0; u<filenameIdx;u++){
-                FIO_listFile(filenameTable[u],g_displayLevel);
+                error = FIO_listFile(filenameTable[u],g_displayLevel);
             }
+            CLEAN_RETURN(error);
         }
-        CLEAN_RETURN(0);
     }
     /* Check if benchmark is selected */
     if (operation==zom_bench) {