diff --git a/cfg/config.go b/cfg/config.go
index 9e89adb..e5f0ef4 100644
--- a/cfg/config.go
+++ b/cfg/config.go
@@ -29,7 +29,7 @@ import (
 )
 
 const DefaultSeparator string = `(\s\s+|\t)`
-const Version string = "v1.2.1"
+const Version string = "v1.2.2"
 const MAXPARTS = 2
 
 var DefaultLoadPath = os.Getenv("HOME") + "/.config/tablizer/lisp"
diff --git a/cmd/root.go b/cmd/root.go
index 38cf2ed..c493a4d 100644
--- a/cmd/root.go
+++ b/cmd/root.go
@@ -63,6 +63,14 @@ func completion(cmd *cobra.Command, mode string) error {
 	}
 }
 
+// we die with exit 1 if there's an error
+func wrapE(err error) {
+	if err != nil {
+		fmt.Println(err.Error())
+		os.Exit(1)
+	}
+}
+
 func Execute() {
 	var (
 		conf           cfg.Config
@@ -77,48 +85,43 @@ func Execute() {
 		Use:   "tablizer [regex] [file, ...]",
 		Short: "[Re-]tabularize tabular data",
 		Long:  `Manipulate tabular output of other programs`,
-		RunE: func(cmd *cobra.Command, args []string) error {
+
+		Run: func(cmd *cobra.Command, args []string) {
 			if ShowVersion {
 				fmt.Println(cfg.Getversion())
 
-				return nil
+				return
 			}
 
 			if ShowManual {
 				man()
 
-				return nil
+				return
 			}
 
 			if len(ShowCompletion) > 0 {
-				return completion(cmd, ShowCompletion)
+				wrapE(completion(cmd, ShowCompletion))
+
+				return
 			}
 
 			// Setup
-			err := conf.ParseConfigfile()
-			if err != nil {
-				return err
-			}
+			wrapE(conf.ParseConfigfile())
 
 			conf.CheckEnv()
 			conf.PrepareModeFlags(modeflag)
 			conf.PrepareSortFlags(sortmode)
 
-			if err = conf.PrepareFilters(); err != nil {
-				return err
-			}
+			wrapE(conf.PrepareFilters())
 
 			conf.DetermineColormode()
 			conf.ApplyDefaults()
 
 			// setup lisp env, load plugins etc
-			err = lib.SetupLisp(&conf)
-			if err != nil {
-				return err
-			}
+			wrapE(lib.SetupLisp(&conf))
 
 			// actual execution starts here
-			return lib.ProcessFiles(&conf, args)
+			wrapE(lib.ProcessFiles(&conf, args))
 		},
 	}
 
diff --git a/lib/helpers.go b/lib/helpers.go
index 2f04ad2..9ce52e8 100644
--- a/lib/helpers.go
+++ b/lib/helpers.go
@@ -40,6 +40,20 @@ func contains(s []int, e int) bool {
 	return false
 }
 
+// validate the consitency of parsed data
+func ValidateConsistency(data *Tabdata) error {
+	expectedfields := len(data.headers)
+
+	for idx, row := range data.entries {
+		if len(row) != expectedfields {
+			return fmt.Errorf("row %d does not contain expected %d elements, but %d",
+				idx, expectedfields, len(row))
+		}
+	}
+
+	return nil
+}
+
 // parse columns list given  with -c, modifies config.UseColumns based
 // on eventually given regex
 func PrepareColumns(conf *cfg.Config, data *Tabdata) error {
diff --git a/lib/io.go b/lib/io.go
index 90e98a5..3fe28c7 100644
--- a/lib/io.go
+++ b/lib/io.go
@@ -45,6 +45,10 @@ func ProcessFiles(conf *cfg.Config, args []string) error {
 			return err
 		}
 
+		if err = ValidateConsistency(&data); err != nil {
+			return err
+		}
+
 		err = PrepareColumns(conf, &data)
 		if err != nil {
 			return err