diff --git a/src/stdio/vfprintf.c b/src/stdio/vfprintf.c
index 2dbdb5e2..7b848080 100644
--- a/src/stdio/vfprintf.c
+++ b/src/stdio/vfprintf.c
@@ -677,7 +677,7 @@ int vfprintf(FILE *restrict f, const char *restrict fmt, va_list ap)
 
 	FLOCK(f);
 	olderr = f->flags & F_ERR;
-	if (f->mode < 1) f->flags &= ~F_ERR;
+	f->flags &= ~F_ERR;
 	if (!f->buf_size) {
 		saved_buf = f->buf;
 		f->buf = internal_buf;
diff --git a/src/stdio/vfwprintf.c b/src/stdio/vfwprintf.c
index 119fdffc..18784113 100644
--- a/src/stdio/vfwprintf.c
+++ b/src/stdio/vfwprintf.c
@@ -125,7 +125,13 @@ static void pop_arg(union arg *arg, int type, va_list *ap)
 
 static void out(FILE *f, const wchar_t *s, size_t l)
 {
-	while (l-- && !(f->flags & F_ERR)) fputwc(*s++, f);
+	while (l-- && !ferror(f)) fputwc(*s++, f);
+}
+
+static void pad(FILE *f, int n, int fl)
+{
+	if ((fl & LEFT_ADJ) || !n || ferror(f)) return;
+	fprintf(f, "%*s", n, "");
 }
 
 static int getint(wchar_t **s) {
@@ -264,9 +270,9 @@ static int wprintf_core(FILE *f, const wchar_t *fmt, va_list *ap, union arg *nl_
 		case 'c':
 		case 'C':
 			if (w<1) w=1;
-			if (w>1 && !(fl&LEFT_ADJ)) fprintf(f, "%*s", w-1, "");
+			pad(f, w-1, fl);
 			out(f, &(wchar_t){t=='C' ? arg.i : btowc(arg.i)}, 1);
-			if (w>1 && (fl&LEFT_ADJ)) fprintf(f, "%*s", w-1, "");
+			pad(f, w-1, fl^LEFT_ADJ);
 			l = w;
 			continue;
 		case 'S':
@@ -275,9 +281,9 @@ static int wprintf_core(FILE *f, const wchar_t *fmt, va_list *ap, union arg *nl_
 			if (p<0 && *z) goto overflow;
 			p = z-a;
 			if (w<p) w=p;
-			if (!(fl&LEFT_ADJ)) fprintf(f, "%*s", w-p, "");
+			pad(f, w-p, fl);
 			out(f, a, p);
-			if ((fl&LEFT_ADJ)) fprintf(f, "%*s", w-p, "");
+			pad(f, w-p, fl^LEFT_ADJ);
 			l=w;
 			continue;
 		case 'm':
@@ -290,14 +296,14 @@ static int wprintf_core(FILE *f, const wchar_t *fmt, va_list *ap, union arg *nl_
 			if (p<0 && *bs) goto overflow;
 			p=l;
 			if (w<p) w=p;
-			if (!(fl&LEFT_ADJ)) fprintf(f, "%*s", w-p, "");
+			pad(f, w-p, fl);
 			bs = arg.p;
 			while (l--) {
 				i=mbtowc(&wc, bs, MB_LEN_MAX);
 				bs+=i;
 				out(f, &wc, 1);
 			}
-			if ((fl&LEFT_ADJ)) fprintf(f, "%*s", w-p, "");
+			pad(f, w-p, fl^LEFT_ADJ);
 			l=w;
 			continue;
 		}
@@ -358,7 +364,7 @@ int vfwprintf(FILE *restrict f, const wchar_t *restrict fmt, va_list ap)
 	olderr = f->flags & F_ERR;
 	f->flags &= ~F_ERR;
 	ret = wprintf_core(f, fmt, &ap2, nl_arg, nl_type);
-	if (f->flags & F_ERR) ret = -1;
+	if (ferror(f)) ret = -1;
 	f->flags |= olderr;
 	FUNLOCK(f);
 	va_end(ap2);