diff --git a/zless b/zless
index e29e49e..dfdb586 100755
--- a/zless.in
+++ b/zless.in
@@ -61,7 +61,7 @@ case $less_version in
 *) use_input_pipe_on_stdin='';;
 esac
 
-LESSOPEN="|${use_input_pipe_on_stdin}gzip -cdfq -- %s"
+LESSOPEN="||${use_input_pipe_on_stdin}gzip -cdfq -- %s"
 export LESSOPEN
 
 exec less "$@"