diff --git a/backup/data.go b/backup/data.go
index 7f92cdcde..dd7ca97ea 100644
--- a/backup/data.go
+++ b/backup/data.go
@@ -59,6 +59,7 @@ func CopyTableOut(connectionPool *dbconn.DBConn, table Table, destinationToWrite
 	checkPipeExistsCommand := ""
 	customPipeThroughCommand := utils.GetPipeThroughProgram().OutputCommand
 	sendToDestinationCommand := ">"
+	copyCommand := ""
 	if MustGetFlagBool(options.SINGLE_DATA_FILE) {
 		/*
 		 * The segment TOC files are always written to the segment data directory for
@@ -70,9 +71,13 @@ func CopyTableOut(connectionPool *dbconn.DBConn, table Table, destinationToWrite
 		customPipeThroughCommand = "cat -"
 	} else if MustGetFlagString(options.PLUGIN_CONFIG) != "" {
 		sendToDestinationCommand = fmt.Sprintf("| %s backup_data %s", pluginConfig.ExecutablePath, pluginConfig.ConfigPath)
+	} else if customPipeThroughCommand == "cat -" {
+		copyCommand = fmt.Sprintf("'%s'", destinationToWrite)
 	}
 
-	copyCommand := fmt.Sprintf("PROGRAM '%s%s %s %s'", checkPipeExistsCommand, customPipeThroughCommand, sendToDestinationCommand, destinationToWrite)
+	if copyCommand == "" {
+		copyCommand = fmt.Sprintf("PROGRAM '%s%s %s %s'", checkPipeExistsCommand, customPipeThroughCommand, sendToDestinationCommand, destinationToWrite)
+	}
 
 	query := fmt.Sprintf("COPY %s TO %s WITH CSV DELIMITER '%s' ON SEGMENT IGNORE EXTERNAL PARTITIONS;", table.FQN(), copyCommand, tableDelim)
 	gplog.Verbose("Worker %d: %s", connNum, query)
diff --git a/backup/data_test.go b/backup/data_test.go
index ffb0b31fa..736362201 100644
--- a/backup/data_test.go
+++ b/backup/data_test.go
@@ -121,7 +121,7 @@ var _ = Describe("backup/data tests", func() {
 		})
 		It("will back up a table to its own file without compression", func() {
 			utils.SetPipeThroughProgram(utils.PipeThroughProgram{Name: "cat", OutputCommand: "cat -", InputCommand: "cat -", Extension: ""})
-			execStr := regexp.QuoteMeta("COPY public.foo TO PROGRAM 'cat - > <SEG_DATA_DIR>/backups/20170101/20170101010101/gpbackup_<SEGID>_20170101010101_3456' WITH CSV DELIMITER ',' ON SEGMENT IGNORE EXTERNAL PARTITIONS;")
+			execStr := regexp.QuoteMeta("COPY public.foo TO '<SEG_DATA_DIR>/backups/20170101/20170101010101/gpbackup_<SEGID>_20170101010101_3456' WITH CSV DELIMITER ',' ON SEGMENT IGNORE EXTERNAL PARTITIONS;")
 			mock.ExpectExec(execStr).WillReturnResult(sqlmock.NewResult(10, 0))
 			filename := "<SEG_DATA_DIR>/backups/20170101/20170101010101/gpbackup_<SEGID>_20170101010101_3456"