diff --git a/doc/src/sgml/ref/pgbench.sgml b/doc/src/sgml/ref/pgbench.sgml
index 4c48a58ed2..5008377998 100644
--- a/doc/src/sgml/ref/pgbench.sgml
+++ b/doc/src/sgml/ref/pgbench.sgml
@@ -168,7 +168,8 @@ pgbench <optional> <replaceable>options</replaceable> </optional> <replaceable>d
         initialization steps to be performed, using one character per step.
         Each step is invoked in the specified order.
         The default is <literal>dtgvp</literal>.
-        The available steps are:
+        The space character is accepted as a no-op, and the other available
+        steps are:
 
         <variablelist>
          <varlistentry>
diff --git a/src/bin/pgbench/pgbench.c b/src/bin/pgbench/pgbench.c
index 14dbc4510c..4178127c21 100644
--- a/src/bin/pgbench/pgbench.c
+++ b/src/bin/pgbench/pgbench.c
@@ -4104,6 +4104,9 @@ runInitSteps(const char *initialize_steps)
 	double		run_time = 0.0;
 	bool		first = true;
 
+	/* check that all steps are valid before executing them */
+	checkInitSteps(initialize_steps);
+
 	initPQExpBuffer(&stats);
 
 	if ((con = doConnect()) == NULL)
@@ -5501,7 +5504,6 @@ main(int argc, char **argv)
 				if (initialize_steps)
 					pg_free(initialize_steps);
 				initialize_steps = pg_strdup(optarg);
-				checkInitSteps(initialize_steps);
 				initialization_option_set = true;
 				break;
 			case 'h':
diff --git a/src/bin/pgbench/t/001_pgbench_with_server.pl b/src/bin/pgbench/t/001_pgbench_with_server.pl
index 1845869016..4e3d3e464c 100644
--- a/src/bin/pgbench/t/001_pgbench_with_server.pl
+++ b/src/bin/pgbench/t/001_pgbench_with_server.pl
@@ -130,7 +130,7 @@ pgbench(
 
 # Test interaction of --init-steps with legacy step-selection options
 pgbench(
-	'--initialize --init-steps=dtpvGvv --no-vacuum --foreign-keys --unlogged-tables --partitions=3',
+	'--initialize --no-vacuum --foreign-keys --unlogged-tables --partitions=3',
 	0,
 	[qr{^$}],
 	[
@@ -143,7 +143,9 @@ pgbench(
 		qr{(?!vacuuming)}, # no vacuum
 		qr{done in \d+\.\d\d s }
 	],
-	'pgbench --init-steps');
+	'pgbench --init-steps',
+	undef,
+	'--init-steps= dtpvGvv');
 
 # Run all builtin scripts, for a few transactions each
 pgbench(