@@ -145,9 +145,8 @@
 		/* fuck your buffering, it only ever makes
 		 * things worse */
 		setvbuf(stdout,null,_IONBF);
 #	endif
-	word rv;
 	
 	enum { set_in, set_out, _set_sz } curset = set_in;
 	word base[_set_sz] = { 10, 0 };
 
@@ -154,9 +153,8 @@
 	const char* in_vals[argc]; *in_vals = null; /* null-terminated! */
 	const char** invalp = in_vals;
 	const char* pfxstr;
 	forposix(size_t pfxstrlen);
-
 	
 	bool raw = false;
 	bool prefix = false;
 	bool lowercase = false;
@@ -239,8 +237,9 @@
 		word val;
 		bad e = atoi(base[set_in], *s, &val);
 		if (e == ok) {
 			bad e = itoa(base[set_out], val, buf, ptr, &ptr, lowercase);
+			if (e != ok) return e;
 
 			if (prefix) {
 				if (pfxstr != null) { print(pfxstrlen, pfxstr); }
 				else if (base[set_out] < sz(prefixes)) {
@@ -254,8 +253,9 @@
 		} else {
 			return e;
 		}
 	}
+	return ok;
 }
 
 void usage(const char* name) {
 #	ifdef _POSIX_IO
@@ -339,10 +339,11 @@
 	if (argc == 1) usage(argv[0]);
 	bad e = run(argc, argv);
 	switch (e) {
 		case ok: return 0;
+		case fail: return -1;
 #		define e(kind, desc) case bad_##kind:\
-				 say("\x1b[31;1merror:\x1b[m "); say(desc "\n"); break;
+				 say("\x1b[31;1merror:\x1b[m "); say(desc "\n"); return e;
 			error_list
 #		undef e
 	}
 }