diff --git a/powerline/bindings/zsh/prompt.zsh b/powerline/bindings/zsh/prompt.zsh
index 3f3bee9d..b3bf9c4d 100644
--- a/powerline/bindings/zsh/prompt.zsh
+++ b/powerline/bindings/zsh/prompt.zsh
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 _powerline_precmd() {
-	export PS1="$(powerline-prompt --renderer_module=zsh_prompt --last_exit_code=$? --last_pipe_status=$pipestatus left)"
-	export RPS1="$(powerline-prompt --renderer_module=zsh_prompt --last_exit_code=$? --last_pipe_status=$pipestatus right)"
+	export PS1="$(powerline-prompt --renderer_module=zsh_prompt --last_exit_code=$? --last_pipe_status="$pipestatus" left)"
+	export RPS1="$(powerline-prompt --renderer_module=zsh_prompt --last_exit_code=$? --last_pipe_status="$pipestatus" right)"
 	_powerline_tmux_set_pwd
 }
 
diff --git a/scripts/powerline-prompt b/scripts/powerline-prompt
index 115681c2..6f125628 100755
--- a/scripts/powerline-prompt
+++ b/scripts/powerline-prompt
@@ -16,7 +16,7 @@ parser.add_argument('side', nargs='?', default=None, choices=('left', 'right'))
 parser.add_argument('--renderer_module', default='shell', choices=('shell', 'zsh_prompt'))
 parser.add_argument('--ext', default='shell')
 parser.add_argument('--last_exit_code', default=None, type=int)
-parser.add_argument('--last_pipe_status', default=None, type=int)
+parser.add_argument('--last_pipe_status', default=None)
 
 if __name__ == '__main__':
 	args = parser.parse_args()