diff --git a/src/nix-env/nix-env.cc b/src/nix-env/nix-env.cc
index 325c8b928fea53b349ac71d26206fd2783287c18..5116d955fe09f8441438f4fd433c9eda3a26d7b1 100644
--- a/src/nix-env/nix-env.cc
+++ b/src/nix-env/nix-env.cc
@@ -977,6 +977,9 @@ static void opQuery(Globals & globals, Strings opFlags, Strings opArgs)
         return;
     }
 
+    bool tty = isatty(STDOUT_FILENO);
+    RunPager pager;
+
     Table table;
     std::ostringstream dummy;
     XMLWriter xml(true, *(xmlOutput ? &cout : &dummy));
@@ -1049,7 +1052,7 @@ static void opQuery(Globals & globals, Strings opFlags, Strings opArgs)
                     }
                 } else {
                     string column = (string) "" + ch + " " + version;
-                    if (diff == cvGreater && isatty(STDOUT_FILENO))
+                    if (diff == cvGreater && tty)
                         column = ANSI_RED + column + ANSI_NORMAL;
                     columns.push_back(column);
                 }
@@ -1240,6 +1243,8 @@ static void opListGenerations(Globals & globals, Strings opFlags, Strings opArgs
     int curGen;
     Generations gens = findGenerations(globals.profile, curGen);
 
+    RunPager pager;
+
     for (Generations::iterator i = gens.begin(); i != gens.end(); ++i) {
         tm t;
         if (!localtime_r(&i->creationTime, &t)) throw Error("cannot convert time");
diff --git a/src/nix-store/nix-store.cc b/src/nix-store/nix-store.cc
index 24ecf84142b009d0d730ec148790bec8dc1dfd7d..8c3744824ce6364a7eb45b545552bd77f157f9bb 100644
--- a/src/nix-store/nix-store.cc
+++ b/src/nix-store/nix-store.cc
@@ -299,6 +299,8 @@ static void opQuery(Strings opFlags, Strings opArgs)
         else if (*i == "--include-outputs") includeOutputs = true;
         else throw UsageError(format("unknown flag ‘%1%’") % *i);
 
+    RunPager pager;
+
     switch (query) {
 
         case qOutputs: {