diff --git a/src/machine/machine_state.rs b/src/machine/machine_state.rs
index 62663ee2..142f5a98 100644
--- a/src/machine/machine_state.rs
+++ b/src/machine/machine_state.rs
@@ -510,7 +510,7 @@ impl MachineState {
         }
     }
 
-    fn write_read_term_options(
+    pub fn write_read_term_options(
         &mut self,
         mut var_list: Vec<(VarKey, HeapCellValue, usize)>,
         singleton_var_list: Vec<HeapCellValue>,
diff --git a/src/machine/system_calls.rs b/src/machine/system_calls.rs
index 259acc9e..9c76ee70 100644
--- a/src/machine/system_calls.rs
+++ b/src/machine/system_calls.rs
@@ -5863,6 +5863,11 @@ impl Machine {
             if let Some(term_write_result) = self.read_term_and_write_to_heap(atom_or_string)? {
                 self.machine_st.read_term_body(term_write_result)
             } else {
+                if !self.machine_st.fail {
+                    // wrote end_of_file term in this case.
+                    self.machine_st.write_read_term_options(vec![], vec![])?;
+                }
+
                 Ok(())
             }
         } else {