diff --git a/src/bitcoin-cli.cpp b/src/bitcoin-cli.cpp
index d3419520a7..b5c9747f47 100644
--- a/src/bitcoin-cli.cpp
+++ b/src/bitcoin-cli.cpp
@@ -123,7 +123,7 @@ static int AppInitRPC(int argc, char* argv[])
         }
         return EXIT_SUCCESS;
     }
-    if (!fs::is_directory(GetDataDir(false))) {
+    if (!CheckDataDirOption()) {
         tfm::format(std::cerr, "Error: Specified data directory \"%s\" does not exist.\n", gArgs.GetArg("-datadir", "").c_str());
         return EXIT_FAILURE;
     }