diff --git a/src/wordsplit.c b/src/wordsplit.c
index dab6c4d..5468297 100644
--- a/src/wordsplit.c
+++ b/src/wordsplit.c
@@ -2400,7 +2400,7 @@ wordsplit_run (const char *command, size_t length, struct wordsplit *wsp,
   if (!command)
     {
       if (!(flags & WRDSF_INCREMENTAL))
-	return EINVAL;
+	return _wsplt_seterr (wsp, WRDSE_USAGE);
 
       if (wsp->ws_head)
 	return wordsplit_finish (wsp);