diff --git a/xCAT-client/bin/xcatDBcmds b/xCAT-client/bin/xcatDBcmds
index e3f595c06..4020db879 100755
--- a/xCAT-client/bin/xcatDBcmds
+++ b/xCAT-client/bin/xcatDBcmds
@@ -54,7 +54,7 @@ else
 $cmdref->{cwd}->[0] = cwd();
 # get info from files piped in as stdin
 my $data;
-if (($^O =~ /^linux/i) && ($ENV{'SHELL'} =~ /\/ksh$/))
+if ( (($^O =~ /^linux/i) && ($ENV{'SHELL'} =~ /\/ksh$/))  || !defined($ENV{'TERM'}) )
 {
     my $rin="";
     vec($rin,fileno(STDIN),1)=1;
diff --git a/xCAT-client/bin/xcatclient b/xCAT-client/bin/xcatclient
index 8db1d2c7a..3f5c3c0ac 100755
--- a/xCAT-client/bin/xcatclient
+++ b/xCAT-client/bin/xcatclient
@@ -23,11 +23,28 @@ if ($bname =~ /xcatclient/) { $cmdref->{command}->[0]=shift @ARGV; }  # xcatclie
 else { $cmdref->{command}->[0] = $bname; }        # the cmd was sym linked to xcatclient
 $cmdref->{cwd}->[0] = cwd();
 
-if (-p STDIN) {
-  my $data;
-  while ( <STDIN> ) { $data.=$_; }
-  $cmdref->{stdin}->[0]=$data;
+
+# allows our plugins to get the stdin of the cmd that invoked the plugin
+if ( (($^O =~ /^linux/i) && ($ENV{'SHELL'} =~ /\/ksh$/))  || !defined($ENV{'TERM
+'}) )
+{
+    my $rin="";
+    vec($rin,fileno(STDIN),1)=1;
+    my $nfound=select($rout=$rin,"","",1);
+    if ($nfound)
+    {
+        while ( <STDIN> ) { $data.=$_; }
+        $cmdref->{stdin}->[0]=$data;
+    }
 }
+else
+{
+    if (-p STDIN) {
+        while ( <STDIN> ) { $data.=$_; }
+        $cmdref->{stdin}->[0]=$data;
+    }
+}
+
 
 my $arg;
 my @tmpargv = @ARGV;
diff --git a/xCAT-client/bin/xcatclientnnr b/xCAT-client/bin/xcatclientnnr
index 4462369b1..df1165117 100755
--- a/xCAT-client/bin/xcatclientnnr
+++ b/xCAT-client/bin/xcatclientnnr
@@ -17,12 +17,26 @@ my $cmdref;
 if ($bname =~ /xcatclientnnr/) { $cmdref->{command}->[0]=shift @ARGV; }  # xcatclientnnr was invoked directly and the 1st arg is cmd name that is used to locate the plugin
 else { $cmdref->{command}->[0] = $bname; }        # the cmd was sym linked to xcatclientnnr
 $cmdref->{cwd}->[0] = cwd();
-
-if (-p STDIN) {
-  my $data;
-  while ( <STDIN> ) { $data.=$_; }
-  $cmdref->{stdin}->[0]=$data;
+# allows our plugins to get the stdin of the cmd that invoked the plugin
+if ( (($^O =~ /^linux/i) && ($ENV{'SHELL'} =~ /\/ksh$/))  || !defined($ENV{'TERM'}) )
+{
+    my $rin="";
+    vec($rin,fileno(STDIN),1)=1;
+    my $nfound=select($rout=$rin,"","",1);
+    if ($nfound)
+    {
+        while ( <STDIN> ) { $data.=$_; }
+        $cmdref->{stdin}->[0]=$data;
+    }
 }
+else
+{
+    if (-p STDIN) {
+        while ( <STDIN> ) { $data.=$_; }
+        $cmdref->{stdin}->[0]=$data;
+    }
+}
+
 
 push (@{$cmdref->{arg}}, @ARGV);
 foreach (keys %ENV) {