diff --git a/clippy_dev/src/fmt.rs b/clippy_dev/src/fmt.rs
index c66738592820..0b0269e90192 100644
--- a/clippy_dev/src/fmt.rs
+++ b/clippy_dev/src/fmt.rs
@@ -307,16 +307,19 @@ fn run_rustfmt(context: &FmtContext) -> Result<(), Error> {
 
 // the "main" function of cargo dev fmt
 pub fn run(check: bool, verbose: bool) {
-    let output = Command::new("rustup")
+    let result = Command::new("rustup")
         .args(["which", "rustfmt"])
         .stderr(Stdio::inherit())
-        .output()
-        .expect("error running `rustup which rustfmt`");
-    if !output.status.success() {
-        eprintln!("`rustup which rustfmt` did not execute successfully");
-        process::exit(1);
-    }
-    let mut rustfmt_path = String::from_utf8(output.stdout).expect("invalid rustfmt path");
+        .output();
+
+    let mut rustfmt_path = if let Ok(output) = result
+        && output.status.success()
+    {
+        String::from_utf8(output.stdout).expect("invalid rustfmt path")
+    } else {
+        String::from("rustfmt")
+    };
+
     rustfmt_path.truncate(rustfmt_path.trim_end().len());
 
     let context = FmtContext {