diff --git a/lib/utils/exit-handler.js b/lib/utils/exit-handler.js
index dc499f526a208..931527704b9b7 100644
--- a/lib/utils/exit-handler.js
+++ b/lib/utils/exit-handler.js
@@ -58,6 +58,7 @@ process.on('exit', code => {
   if (!code)
     log.info('ok')
   else {
+    log.verbose('code', code)
     if (!exitHandlerCalled) {
       log.error('', 'Exit handler never called!')
       console.error('')
@@ -66,7 +67,6 @@ process.on('exit', code => {
       // TODO this doesn't have an npm.config.loaded guard
       writeLogFile()
     }
-    log.verbose('code', code)
   }
   // In timing mode we always write the log file
   if (npm.config && npm.config.loaded && npm.config.get('timing') && !wroteLogFile)
@@ -107,8 +107,6 @@ const exit = (code, noLog) => {
   // background at this point, and this makes sure anything left dangling
   // for whatever reason gets thrown away, instead of leaving the CLI open
   process.stdout.write('', () => {
-    // `|| process.exitCode` supports a single use case, where we set the exit
-    // code to 1 if npm is called with no arguments
     process.exit(code)
   })
 }
diff --git a/tap-snapshots/test/lib/utils/exit-handler.js.test.cjs b/tap-snapshots/test/lib/utils/exit-handler.js.test.cjs
index 0a5ed59a1157c..8cea8ee17e5ea 100644
--- a/tap-snapshots/test/lib/utils/exit-handler.js.test.cjs
+++ b/tap-snapshots/test/lib/utils/exit-handler.js.test.cjs
@@ -6,18 +6,15 @@
  */
 'use strict'
 exports[`test/lib/utils/exit-handler.js TAP handles unknown error > should have expected log contents for unknown error 1`] = `
-0 verbose code 1
-1 error foo A complete log of this run can be found in:
-1 error foo     {CWD}/test/lib/utils/tap-testdir-exit-handler/_logs/expecteddate-debug.log
-2 verbose stack Error: ERROR
-3 verbose cwd {CWD}
-4 verbose Foo 1.0.0
-5 verbose argv "/node" "{CWD}/test/lib/utils/exit-handler.js"
-6 verbose node v1.0.0
-7 verbose npm  v1.0.0
-8 error foo code ERROR
-9 error foo ERR ERROR
-10 error foo ERR ERROR
-11 verbose exit 1
+0 verbose stack Error: ERROR
+1 verbose cwd {CWD}
+2 verbose Foo 1.0.0
+3 verbose argv "/node" "{CWD}/test/lib/utils/exit-handler.js"
+4 verbose node v1.0.0
+5 verbose npm  v1.0.0
+6 error foo code ERROR
+7 error foo ERR ERROR
+8 error foo ERR ERROR
+9 verbose exit 1
 
 `
diff --git a/test/lib/utils/exit-handler.js b/test/lib/utils/exit-handler.js
index 72f94bfded7b0..06014b67a9754 100644
--- a/test/lib/utils/exit-handler.js
+++ b/test/lib/utils/exit-handler.js
@@ -109,6 +109,10 @@ process = Object.assign(
 // in order for tap to exit properly
 t.teardown(() => {
   process = _process
+})
+
+t.afterEach(() => {
+  // clear out the 'A complete log' message
   npmlog.record.length = 0
 })