diff --git a/src/libutil/include/nix/util/table.hh b/src/libutil/include/nix/util/table.hh
index c42cc1d8f..13e4506d5 100644
--- a/src/libutil/include/nix/util/table.hh
+++ b/src/libutil/include/nix/util/table.hh
@@ -6,6 +6,6 @@ namespace nix {
 
 typedef std::vector<std::vector<std::string>> Table;
 
-void printTable(Table & table);
+void printTable(std::ostream & out, Table & table);
 
 } // namespace nix
diff --git a/src/libutil/table.cc b/src/libutil/table.cc
index a64c37315..fa1bf110d 100644
--- a/src/libutil/table.cc
+++ b/src/libutil/table.cc
@@ -7,7 +7,7 @@
 
 namespace nix {
 
-void printTable(Table & table)
+void printTable(std::ostream & out, Table & table)
 {
     auto nrColumns = table.size() > 0 ? table.front().size() : 0;
 
@@ -27,11 +27,11 @@ void printTable(Table & table)
         for (auto j = i.begin(); j != i.end(); ++j, ++column) {
             std::string s = *j;
             replace(s.begin(), s.end(), '\n', ' ');
-            std::cout << s;
+            out << s;
             if (column < nrColumns - 1)
-                std::cout << std::string(widths[column] - s.size() + 2, ' ');
+                out << std::string(widths[column] - s.size() + 2, ' ');
         }
-        std::cout << std::endl;
+        out << std::endl;
     }
 }
 
diff --git a/src/nix/nix-env/nix-env.cc b/src/nix/nix-env/nix-env.cc
index aa5fa23c4..1c09c1e45 100644
--- a/src/nix/nix-env/nix-env.cc
+++ b/src/nix/nix-env/nix-env.cc
@@ -1250,7 +1250,7 @@ static void opQuery(Globals & globals, Strings opFlags, Strings opArgs)
     }
 
     if (!xmlOutput)
-        printTable(table);
+        printTable(std::cout, table);
 }
 
 static void opSwitchProfile(Globals & globals, Strings opFlags, Strings opArgs)