diff --git a/tools/perf/tests/expr.c b/tools/perf/tests/expr.c
index 755d73c86c68..28313e59d6f6 100644
--- a/tools/perf/tests/expr.c
+++ b/tools/perf/tests/expr.c
@@ -45,11 +45,11 @@ int test__expr(struct test *t __maybe_unused, int subtest __maybe_unused)
 
 	p = "FOO/0";
 	ret = expr__parse(&val, &ctx, p);
-	TEST_ASSERT_VAL("division by zero", ret == 1);
+	TEST_ASSERT_VAL("division by zero", ret == -1);
 
 	p = "BAR/";
 	ret = expr__parse(&val, &ctx, p);
-	TEST_ASSERT_VAL("missing operand", ret == 1);
+	TEST_ASSERT_VAL("missing operand", ret == -1);
 
 	TEST_ASSERT_VAL("find other",
 			expr__find_other("FOO + BAR + BAZ + BOZO", "FOO", &other, &num_other) == 0);
diff --git a/tools/perf/util/expr.c b/tools/perf/util/expr.c
index 45b25530db5b..fd192ddf93c1 100644
--- a/tools/perf/util/expr.c
+++ b/tools/perf/util/expr.c
@@ -54,7 +54,7 @@ __expr__parse(double *val, struct parse_ctx *ctx, const char *expr,
 
 int expr__parse(double *final_val, struct parse_ctx *ctx, const char *expr)
 {
-	return __expr__parse(final_val, ctx, expr, EXPR_PARSE);
+	return __expr__parse(final_val, ctx, expr, EXPR_PARSE) ? -1 : 0;
 }
 
 static bool