diff --git a/share/spack/setup-env.sh b/share/spack/setup-env.sh
index 5c1558f7fce..232d8241705 100755
--- a/share/spack/setup-env.sh
+++ b/share/spack/setup-env.sh
@@ -92,6 +92,8 @@ function spack {
                 LOC="$(spack location $_sp_arg "$@")"
                 if [[ -d "$LOC" ]] ; then
                     cd "$LOC"
+                else
+                    return 1
                 fi
             fi
             return