diff --git a/src/cmd/gc/fmt.c b/src/cmd/gc/fmt.c
index 98556a658f3..f67757449b6 100644
--- a/src/cmd/gc/fmt.c
+++ b/src/cmd/gc/fmt.c
@@ -1108,16 +1108,11 @@ exprfmt(Fmt *f, Node *n, int prec)
 
 	case ONAME:
 		// Special case: name used as local variable in export.
-		switch(n->class&~PHEAP){
-		case PAUTO:
-		case PPARAM:
-		case PPARAMOUT:
-			// _ becomes ~b%d internally; print as _ for export
-			if(fmtmode == FExp && n->sym && n->sym->name[0] == '~' && n->sym->name[1] == 'b')
-				return fmtprint(f, "_");
-			if(fmtmode == FExp && n->sym && !isblank(n) && n->vargen > 0)
-				return fmtprint(f, "%S·%d", n->sym, n->vargen);
-		}
+		// _ becomes ~b%d internally; print as _ for export
+		if(fmtmode == FExp && n->sym && n->sym->name[0] == '~' && n->sym->name[1] == 'b')
+			return fmtprint(f, "_");
+		if(fmtmode == FExp && n->sym && !isblank(n) && n->vargen > 0)
+			return fmtprint(f, "%S·%d", n->sym, n->vargen);
 
 		// Special case: explicit name of func (*T) method(...) is turned into pkg.(*T).method,
 		// but for export, this should be rendered as (*pkg.T).meth.
diff --git a/test/fixedbugs/issue8280.dir/a.go b/test/fixedbugs/issue8280.dir/a.go
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..588536e79a6
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/fixedbugs/issue8280.dir/a.go
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+package a
+
+var Bar = func() (_ int) { return 0 }
diff --git a/test/fixedbugs/issue8280.dir/b.go b/test/fixedbugs/issue8280.dir/b.go
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..c46c554588b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/fixedbugs/issue8280.dir/b.go
@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+package b
+
+import "./a"
+
+var foo = a.Bar
diff --git a/test/fixedbugs/issue8280.go b/test/fixedbugs/issue8280.go
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..91256c852df
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/fixedbugs/issue8280.go
@@ -0,0 +1,9 @@
+// compiledir
+
+// Copyright 2014 The Go Authors. All rights reserved.
+// Use of this source code is governed by a BSD-style
+// license that can be found in the LICENSE file.
+
+// Issue 8280: cannot import package exporting a func var returning a result named _
+
+package ignored