diff --git a/src/util/fmterr.nim b/src/util/fmterr.nim
index ae9c757..f6fc37d 100644
--- a/src/util/fmterr.nim
+++ b/src/util/fmterr.nim
@@ -42,10 +42,13 @@ proc print*(exc: CompileError) =
     ## Prints a formatted error message 
     ## for compilation errors to stderr
     var file = exc.file
-    if file notin ["<string>", ""]:
+    var contents: string
+    if file notin ["<string>", "", "stdin"]:
         file = relativePath(exc.file, getCurrentDir())
-    printError(file, readFile(file).splitLines()[exc.line - 1].strip(chars={'\n'}), 
-               exc.line, exc.node.getRelativeBoundaries(), exc.function,
+        contents = readFile(file).splitLines()[exc.line - 1].strip(chars={'\n'})
+    else:
+        contents = ""
+    printError(file, contents, exc.line, exc.node.getRelativeBoundaries(), exc.function,
                exc.msg)