diff --git a/pkg/kubectl/resource_printer.go b/pkg/kubectl/resource_printer.go
index b1f17830dca..5e4fc1ef081 100644
--- a/pkg/kubectl/resource_printer.go
+++ b/pkg/kubectl/resource_printer.go
@@ -127,6 +127,7 @@ func GetPrinter(format, formatArgument string, noHeaders bool) (ResourcePrinter,
 		if err != nil {
 			return nil, false, fmt.Errorf("error reading template %s, %v\n", formatArgument, err)
 		}
+		defer file.Close()
 		if printer, err = NewCustomColumnsPrinterFromTemplate(file, api.Codecs.UniversalDecoder()); err != nil {
 			return nil, false, err
 		}