diff --git a/src/jtag/jtag.c b/src/jtag/jtag.c
index 2caac53075d313f05f517f83d6bcfc9c874bb94b..1038aff635e03ccd0a872e25992f03213d97f686 100644
--- a/src/jtag/jtag.c
+++ b/src/jtag/jtag.c
@@ -914,11 +914,8 @@ int jtag_get_flush_queue_count(void)
 
 int jtag_execute_queue(void)
 {
-	int retval;
 	jtag_execute_queue_noclear();
-	retval=jtag_error;
-	jtag_error=ERROR_OK;
-	return retval;
+	return jtag_error_clear();
 }
 
 static int jtag_reset_callback(enum jtag_event event, void *priv)
diff --git a/src/jtag/jtag.h b/src/jtag/jtag.h
index 01ef58cd87318bd3770582508a9a61a3cab24d87..90e8ae0b25932c77319a0916c3fe052acf57b031 100644
--- a/src/jtag/jtag.h
+++ b/src/jtag/jtag.h
@@ -561,7 +561,16 @@ static __inline__ void jtag_set_error(int error)
 	jtag_error=error;
 }
 
-
+/**
+ * Resets jtag_error to ERROR_OK, returning its previous value.
+ * @returns The previous value of @c jtag_error.
+ */
+static inline int jtag_error_clear(void)
+{
+	int temp = jtag_error;
+	jtag_error = ERROR_OK;
+	return temp;
+}
 
 /* can be implemented by hw+sw */
 extern int jtag_power_dropout(int* dropout);