diff --git a/Lib/pydoc.py b/Lib/pydoc.py
index 3b5c20abb746..2a5c62c29ca5 100755
--- a/Lib/pydoc.py
+++ b/Lib/pydoc.py
@@ -835,7 +835,7 @@ def tempfilepager(text, cmd):
     file.write(text)
     file.close()
     try:
-        os.system(cmd + ' ' + filename)
+        os.system(cmd + ' <' + filename)
     finally:
         os.unlink(filename)