diff --git a/src/frontend/inp.c b/src/frontend/inp.c
index 1e2218f6e..bbb7cbac5 100644
--- a/src/frontend/inp.c
+++ b/src/frontend/inp.c
@@ -1390,8 +1390,7 @@ com_edit(wordlist *wl)
 
     fprintf(cp_out, "run circuit? ");
     fflush(cp_out);
-    fgets(buf, BSIZE_SP, stdin);
-    if (buf[0] != 'n') {
+    if (fgets(buf, BSIZE_SP, stdin) == (char *) NULL || buf[0] != 'n') {
         fprintf(cp_out, "running circuit\n");
         com_run(NULL);
     }