diff --git a/src/frontends/lean/lean_pp.cpp b/src/frontends/lean/lean_pp.cpp
index 06e6c0076..fa8a01255 100644
--- a/src/frontends/lean/lean_pp.cpp
+++ b/src/frontends/lean/lean_pp.cpp
@@ -704,8 +704,7 @@ class pp_fn {
     }
 
     result pp(expr const & e, unsigned depth, bool main = false) {
-        if (m_interrupted)
-            throw interrupted();
+        check_interrupted(m_interrupted);
         if (!is_atomic(e) && (m_num_steps > m_max_steps || depth > m_max_depth)) {
             return pp_ellipsis();
         } else {
@@ -817,6 +816,7 @@ public:
 class pp_formatter_cell : public formatter_cell {
     frontend const &         m_frontend;
     interruptable_ptr<pp_fn> m_pp_fn;
+    volatile bool            m_interrupted;
 
     format pp(expr const & e, options const & opts) {
         pp_fn fn(m_frontend, opts);
@@ -830,6 +830,7 @@ class pp_formatter_cell : public formatter_cell {
         bool first = true;
         expr c2   = context_to_lambda(c, e);
         while (is_fake_context(c2)) {
+            check_interrupted(m_interrupted);
             name n1 = get_unused_name(c2);
             format entry = format{format(n1), space(), colon(), space(), pp(fake_context_domain(c2), opts)};
             expr val = fake_context_value(c2);
@@ -865,6 +866,7 @@ class pp_formatter_cell : public formatter_cell {
         expr it1 = t;
         expr it2 = v;
         while (is_pi(it1) && is_lambda(it2)) {
+            check_interrupted(m_interrupted);
             if (abst_domain(it1) != abst_domain(it2))
                 return pp_definition(kwd, n, t, v, opts);
             it1 = abst_body(it1);
@@ -901,6 +903,7 @@ class pp_formatter_cell : public formatter_cell {
 public:
     pp_formatter_cell(frontend const & fe):
         m_frontend(fe) {
+        m_interrupted = false;
     }
 
     virtual ~pp_formatter_cell() {
@@ -920,6 +923,7 @@ public:
         } else {
             expr c2   = context_to_lambda(c, e);
             while (is_fake_context(c2)) {
+                check_interrupted(m_interrupted);
                 expr const & rest = fake_context_rest(c2);
                 name n1 = get_unused_name(rest);
                 c2 = instantiate_with_closed(rest, mk_constant(n1));
@@ -952,6 +956,7 @@ public:
         std::for_each(env.begin_objects(),
                       env.end_objects(),
                       [&](object const & obj) {
+                          check_interrupted(m_interrupted);
                           if (first) first = false; else r += line();
                           r += operator()(obj, opts);
                       });
@@ -960,6 +965,7 @@ public:
 
     virtual void set_interrupt(bool flag) {
         m_pp_fn.set_interrupt(flag);
+        m_interrupted = flag;
     }
 };
 
diff --git a/src/kernel/normalize.cpp b/src/kernel/normalize.cpp
index 70b1f561e..d9a40726f 100644
--- a/src/kernel/normalize.cpp
+++ b/src/kernel/normalize.cpp
@@ -128,8 +128,7 @@ class normalizer::imp {
     /** \brief Normalize the expression \c a in a context composed of stack \c s and \c k binders. */
     svalue normalize(expr const & a, value_stack const & s, unsigned k) {
         flet<unsigned> l(m_depth, m_depth+1);
-        if (m_interrupted)
-            throw interrupted();
+        check_interrupted(m_interrupted);
         if (m_depth > m_max_depth)
             throw kernel_exception(m_env, "normalizer maximum recursion depth exceeded");
         bool shared = false;
diff --git a/src/kernel/type_check.cpp b/src/kernel/type_check.cpp
index a36c6b373..ed7733ae7 100644
--- a/src/kernel/type_check.cpp
+++ b/src/kernel/type_check.cpp
@@ -61,8 +61,7 @@ public:
     }
 
     expr infer_type(expr const & e, context const & ctx) {
-        if (m_interrupted)
-            throw interrupted();
+        check_interrupted(m_interrupted);
         bool shared = false;
         if (is_shared(e)) {
             shared = true;
diff --git a/src/library/metavar_env.cpp b/src/library/metavar_env.cpp
index ca14117a0..2451e337e 100644
--- a/src/library/metavar_env.cpp
+++ b/src/library/metavar_env.cpp
@@ -391,8 +391,7 @@ bool metavar_env::is_simple_ho_match(expr const & e1, expr const & e2, context c
    \c e2 when none of them are metavariables.
 */
 void metavar_env::unify_core(expr const & e1, expr const & e2, context const & ctx) {
-    if (m_interrupted)
-        throw interrupted();
+    check_interrupted(m_interrupted);
     lean_assert(!is_metavar(e1));
     lean_assert(!is_metavar(e2));
     if (e1 == e2) {
diff --git a/src/util/exception.h b/src/util/exception.h
index a3eea9286..c1cc7f8b3 100644
--- a/src/util/exception.h
+++ b/src/util/exception.h
@@ -45,4 +45,9 @@ public:
     virtual ~interrupted() noexcept {}
     virtual char const * what() const noexcept { return "interrupted"; }
 };
+/** \brief Throw interrupted exception iff flag is true. */
+inline void check_interrupted(bool flag) {
+    if (flag)
+        throw interrupted();
+}
 }