diff --git a/cmd/helm/search.go b/cmd/helm/search.go
index cf924dcb0..845bfd0be 100644
--- a/cmd/helm/search.go
+++ b/cmd/helm/search.go
@@ -83,7 +83,7 @@ func (s *searchCmd) run(args []string) error {
 		q := strings.Join(args, " ")
 		res, err = index.Search(q, searchMaxScore, s.regexp)
 		if err != nil {
-			return nil
+			return err
 		}
 	}