diff --git a/Documentation/git-hash-object.txt b/Documentation/git-hash-object.txt
index ac928e198e..a4703ec0de 100644
--- a/Documentation/git-hash-object.txt
+++ b/Documentation/git-hash-object.txt
@@ -8,7 +8,9 @@ git-hash-object - Compute object ID and optionally creates a blob from a file
 
 SYNOPSIS
 --------
-'git hash-object' [-t <type>] [-w] [--stdin | --stdin-paths] [--] <file>...
+[verse]
+'git hash-object' [-t <type>] [-w] [--stdin] [--] <file>...
+'git hash-object' [-t <type>] [-w] --stdin-paths < <list-of-paths>
 
 DESCRIPTION
 -----------
diff --git a/hash-object.c b/hash-object.c
index 7acfae15d9..bb7c5dc6ee 100644
--- a/hash-object.c
+++ b/hash-object.c
@@ -50,7 +50,8 @@ static void hash_stdin_paths(const char *type, int write_objects)
 }
 
 static const char hash_object_usage[] =
-"git hash-object [ [-t <type>] [-w] [--stdin] <file>... | --stdin-paths < <list-of-paths> ]";
+"git hash-object [-t <type>] [-w] [--stdin] [--] <file>...\n"
+"   or: git hash-object  --stdin-paths < <list-of-paths>";
 
 int main(int argc, char **argv)
 {