diff --git a/lisp/eshell/em-term.el b/lisp/eshell/em-term.el
index a4fa699aa90..6811e703137 100644
--- a/lisp/eshell/em-term.el
+++ b/lisp/eshell/em-term.el
@@ -153,7 +153,7 @@ behavior for short-lived processes, see bug#18108."
 If either COMMAND or a subcommand in ARGS (e.g. git log) is a
 visual command, returns non-nil."
   (let ((command (file-name-nondirectory command)))
-    (and (eshell-interactive-output-p)
+    (and (eshell-interactive-output-p 'all)
          (or (member command eshell-visual-commands)
              (member (car args)
                      (cdr (assoc command eshell-visual-subcommands)))
diff --git a/lisp/eshell/esh-io.el b/lisp/eshell/esh-io.el
index f5dac2c81cd..01e8aceeabd 100644
--- a/lisp/eshell/esh-io.el
+++ b/lisp/eshell/esh-io.el
@@ -407,12 +407,20 @@ it defaults to `insert'."
     (error "Invalid redirection target: %s"
 	   (eshell-stringify target)))))
 
-(defun eshell-interactive-output-p ()
-  "Return non-nil if current handles are bound for interactive display."
-  (and (eq (car (aref eshell-current-handles
-		      eshell-output-handle)) t)
-       (eq (car (aref eshell-current-handles
-		      eshell-error-handle)) t)))
+(defun eshell-interactive-output-p (&optional index handles)
+  "Return non-nil if the specified handle is bound for interactive display.
+HANDLES is the set of handles to check; if nil, use
+`eshell-current-handles'.
+
+INDEX is the handle index to check.  If nil, check
+`eshell-output-handle'.  If `all', check both
+`eshell-output-handle' and `eshell-error-handle'."
+  (let ((handles (or handles eshell-current-handles))
+        (index (or index eshell-output-handle)))
+    (if (eq index 'all)
+        (and (eq (car (aref handles eshell-output-handle)) t)
+             (eq (car (aref handles eshell-error-handle)) t))
+      (eq (car (aref handles index)) t))))
 
 (defvar eshell-print-queue nil)
 (defvar eshell-print-queue-count -1)