diff --git a/src/tools/ceph_objectstore_tool.cc b/src/tools/ceph_objectstore_tool.cc
index 2d433916e89..b3c854b8013 100644
--- a/src/tools/ceph_objectstore_tool.cc
+++ b/src/tools/ceph_objectstore_tool.cc
@@ -1939,9 +1939,9 @@ int main(int argc, char **argv)
 
   file_fd = fd_none;
   if (op == "export") {
-    if (!vm.count("file")) {
+    if (!vm.count("file") || file == "-") {
       if (outistty) {
-        cerr << "stdout is a tty and no --file option specified" << std::endl;
+        cerr << "stdout is a tty and no --file filename specified" << std::endl;
         exit(1);
       }
       file_fd = STDOUT_FILENO;
@@ -1949,9 +1949,9 @@ int main(int argc, char **argv)
       file_fd = open(file.c_str(), O_WRONLY|O_CREAT|O_TRUNC, 0666);
     }
   } else if (op == "import") {
-    if (!vm.count("file")) {
+    if (!vm.count("file") || file == "-") {
       if (isatty(STDIN_FILENO)) {
-        cerr << "stdin is a tty and no --file option specified" << std::endl;
+        cerr << "stdin is a tty and no --file filename specified" << std::endl;
         exit(1);
       }
       file_fd = STDIN_FILENO;