diff --git a/sql/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/execution/commands.scala b/sql/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/execution/commands.scala
index 5303254078677..f5d0834a4993d 100644
--- a/sql/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/execution/commands.scala
+++ b/sql/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/execution/commands.scala
@@ -86,9 +86,8 @@ case class ExplainCommand(
   extends LeafNode with Command {
 
   // Run through the optimizer to generate the physical plan.
-  // This is really side effect free but we follow the infrastructure anyway...
   override protected[sql] lazy val sideEffectResult: Seq[String] = {
-    context.executePlan(logicalPlan).executedPlan.toString.split("\n")
+    "Physical execution plan:" +: context.executePlan(logicalPlan).executedPlan.toString.split("\n")
   }
 
   def execute(): RDD[Row] = {
diff --git a/sql/hive/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/hive/execution/HiveQuerySuite.scala b/sql/hive/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/hive/execution/HiveQuerySuite.scala
index fe698f0fc57b8..8b2bdd513b71f 100644
--- a/sql/hive/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/hive/execution/HiveQuerySuite.scala
+++ b/sql/hive/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/hive/execution/HiveQuerySuite.scala
@@ -202,12 +202,9 @@ class HiveQuerySuite extends HiveComparisonTest {
     }
   }
 
-  private val explainCommandClassName =
-    classOf[execution.ExplainCommand].getSimpleName.stripSuffix("$")
-
   def isExplanation(result: SchemaRDD) = {
     val explanation = result.select('plan).collect().map { case Row(plan: String) => plan }
-    explanation.size > 1 && explanation.head.startsWith(explainCommandClassName)
+    explanation.size > 1 && explanation.head.startsWith("Physical execution plan")
   }
 
   test("SPARK-1704: Explain commands as a SchemaRDD") {