diff --git a/C/iopreds.c b/C/iopreds.c
index 5dfcdc198..da4a75f97 100755
--- a/C/iopreds.c
+++ b/C/iopreds.c
@@ -2160,6 +2160,8 @@ check_bom(int sno, StreamDesc *st)
   int ch;
 
   ch = st->stream_getc(sno);
+  if (ch == EOFCHAR)
+    return TRUE;
   switch(ch) {
   case 0xFE:
     {