diff --git a/tools/src/h5dump/h5dump.c b/tools/src/h5dump/h5dump.c
index d6a2148597f..8f2c4068598 100644
--- a/tools/src/h5dump/h5dump.c
+++ b/tools/src/h5dump/h5dump.c
@@ -1234,7 +1234,7 @@ parse_command_line(int argc, const char *const *argv)
     }
 
     /* If the file uses the onion VFD, get the revision number */
-    if (vfd_info_g.u.name && !strcmp(vfd_info_g.u.name, "onion")) {
+    if (vfd_info_g.type == VFD_BY_NAME && vfd_info_g.u.name && !strcmp(vfd_info_g.u.name, "onion")) {
 
         if (vfd_info_g.info) {
             if (!strcmp(vfd_info_g.info, "revision_count"))