diff --git a/lib/repl.js b/lib/repl.js
index 4eac059e38..29c6d0eb49 100644
--- a/lib/repl.js
+++ b/lib/repl.js
@@ -281,7 +281,7 @@ function REPLServer(prompt, stream, eval, useGlobal, ignoreUndefined) {
 
       // If error was SyntaxError and not JSON.parse error
       if (isSyntaxError(e)) {
-        if (cmd.trim().match(/^npm /) && !self.bufferedCommand) {
+        if (!self.bufferedCommand && cmd.trim().match(/^npm /)) {
           self.outputStream.write('npm should be run outside of the ' +
                                   'node repl, in your normal shell.\n' +
                                   '(Press Control-D to exit.)\n');
diff --git a/test/simple/test-repl.js b/test/simple/test-repl.js
index ae20a19f09..dccff9cf5d 100644
--- a/test/simple/test-repl.js
+++ b/test/simple/test-repl.js
@@ -150,7 +150,9 @@ function error_test() {
       expect: '1' },
     // npm prompt error message
     { client: client_unix, send: 'npm install foobar',
-      expect: expect_npm }
+      expect: expect_npm },
+    { client: client_unix, send: '(function () {\n\nreturn 1;\n})()',
+      expect: '1' }
   ]);
 }