diff --git a/src/helper/command.c b/src/helper/command.c
index d2a031478..867a84013 100644
--- a/src/helper/command.c
+++ b/src/helper/command.c
@@ -474,6 +474,11 @@ static int jim_exec_command(Jim_Interp *interp, struct command_context *context,
 	if (retval == ERROR_COMMAND_CLOSE_CONNECTION)
 		return JIM_EXIT;
 
+	Jim_Obj *error_code = Jim_NewListObj(context->interp, NULL, 0);
+	Jim_ListAppendElement(context->interp, error_code, Jim_NewStringObj(context->interp, "OpenOCD", -1));
+	Jim_ListAppendElement(context->interp, error_code, Jim_NewIntObj(context->interp, retval));
+	Jim_SetGlobalVariableStr(context->interp, "errorCode", error_code);
+
 	return JIM_ERR;
 }
 
diff --git a/testing/tcl_commands/utils.tcl b/testing/tcl_commands/utils.tcl
index 65e52d2fe..087bf0437 100644
--- a/testing/tcl_commands/utils.tcl
+++ b/testing/tcl_commands/utils.tcl
@@ -8,17 +8,22 @@ namespace eval testing_helpers {
 	}
 
 	proc check_for_error {expctd_code msg_ptrn script} {
+		set ::errorCode NONE
 		set code [catch {uplevel $script} msg]
 		set expanded_script [uplevel subst \"$script\"]
-		if {!$code} {
+		if {$code == 0} {
 			test_failure \
 				"'$expanded_script' finished successfully. \
 				Was expecting an error."
 		}
-		if {$expctd_code ne "" && $code != $expctd_code} {
+		if {$code != 1} {
 			test_failure \
-				"'$expanded_script' returned unexpected error code $code. \
-				Was expecting $expctd_code. Error message: '$msg'"
+				"'$expanded_script' returned unexpected error code $code"
+		}
+		if {$expctd_code ne "" && ([lindex $::errorCode 0] ne "OpenOCD" || [lindex $::errorCode 1] != $expctd_code)} {
+			test_failure \
+				"'$expanded_script' returned unexpected error code '$::errorCode'. \
+				Was expecting 'OpenOCD $expctd_code'. Error message: '$msg'"
 		}
 		if {$msg_ptrn ne "" && ![regexp -- $msg_ptrn $msg]} {
 			test_failure \
@@ -32,7 +37,7 @@ namespace eval testing_helpers {
 	}
 
 	proc check_syntax_err script {
-		tailcall check_for_error 1 {} $script
+		tailcall check_for_error -601 {} $script
 	}
 
 	proc check_matches {pattern script} {
diff --git a/tools/scripts/camelcase.txt b/tools/scripts/camelcase.txt
index 1c782ee35..95ef4af55 100644
--- a/tools/scripts/camelcase.txt
+++ b/tools/scripts/camelcase.txt
@@ -113,17 +113,20 @@ Jim_GetWide
 Jim_IncrRefCount
 Jim_InitStaticExtensions
 Jim_Interp
+Jim_ListAppendElement
 Jim_ListGetIndex
 Jim_ListLength
 Jim_MakeErrorMessage
 Jim_NewEmptyStringObj
 Jim_NewIntObj
+Jim_NewListObj
 Jim_NewStringObj
 Jim_Obj
 Jim_ProcessEvents
 Jim_RegisterCoreCommands
 Jim_SetAssocData
 Jim_SetEmptyResult
+Jim_SetGlobalVariableStr
 Jim_SetResult
 Jim_SetResultFormatted
 Jim_SetResultString