diff --git a/Lib/anydbm.py b/Lib/anydbm.py
index 72dd19574b7..2dc312d5fd3 100644
--- a/Lib/anydbm.py
+++ b/Lib/anydbm.py
@@ -47,5 +47,8 @@
 		break
 else:
 	raise ImportError, "no dbm clone found; tried %s" % _names
+
+error = _mod.error
+
 def open(file, flag = 'r', mode = 0666):
 	return _mod.open(file, flag, mode)