diff --git a/builtin-diff.c b/builtin-diff.c
index faaa85a1d45ce6c5f398a44b1241f6325430918b..7ffea975059f9e13b07ca680e6707ffc14973f90 100644
--- a/builtin-diff.c
+++ b/builtin-diff.c
@@ -296,7 +296,8 @@ int cmd_diff(int argc, const char **argv, const char *prefix)
 	 * If the user asked for our exit code then don't start a
 	 * pager or we would end up reporting its exit code instead.
 	 */
-	if (!DIFF_OPT_TST(&rev.diffopt, EXIT_WITH_STATUS))
+	if (!DIFF_OPT_TST(&rev.diffopt, EXIT_WITH_STATUS) &&
+	    check_pager_config("diff") != 0)
 		setup_pager();
 
 	/*
diff --git a/builtin.h b/builtin.h
index 0e605d4f4aa748c0b3c34aeb75a1b5a765114b12..f3502d305e4f65e9707fe8b738f64be6e49f7f84 100644
--- a/builtin.h
+++ b/builtin.h
@@ -18,6 +18,7 @@ extern int fmt_merge_msg(int merge_summary, struct strbuf *in,
 	struct strbuf *out);
 extern int commit_tree(const char *msg, unsigned char *tree,
 		struct commit_list *parents, unsigned char *ret);
+extern int check_pager_config(const char *cmd);
 
 extern int cmd_add(int argc, const char **argv, const char *prefix);
 extern int cmd_annotate(int argc, const char **argv, const char *prefix);