diff --git a/builtin/add.c b/builtin/add.c
index 8a155dd41e..ba1ff5689d 100644
--- a/builtin/add.c
+++ b/builtin/add.c
@@ -304,7 +304,8 @@ static struct option builtin_add_options[] = {
 	OPT_BOOL( 0 , "refresh", &refresh_only, N_("don't add, only refresh the index")),
 	OPT_BOOL( 0 , "ignore-errors", &ignore_add_errors, N_("just skip files which cannot be added because of errors")),
 	OPT_BOOL( 0 , "ignore-missing", &ignore_missing, N_("check if - even missing - files are ignored in dry run")),
-	OPT_STRING( 0 , "chmod", &chmod_arg, N_("(+/-)x"), N_("override the executable bit of the listed files")),
+	OPT_STRING(0, "chmod", &chmod_arg, "(+|-)x",
+		   N_("override the executable bit of the listed files")),
 	OPT_HIDDEN_BOOL(0, "warn-embedded-repo", &warn_on_embedded_repo,
 			N_("warn when adding an embedded repository")),
 	OPT_END(),
diff --git a/builtin/difftool.c b/builtin/difftool.c
index 3018e61d04..cdd585ca76 100644
--- a/builtin/difftool.c
+++ b/builtin/difftool.c
@@ -703,7 +703,7 @@ int cmd_difftool(int argc, const char **argv, const char *prefix)
 			1, PARSE_OPT_NONEG | PARSE_OPT_HIDDEN),
 		OPT_BOOL(0, "symlinks", &symlinks,
 			 N_("use symlinks in dir-diff mode")),
-		OPT_STRING('t', "tool", &difftool_cmd, N_("<tool>"),
+		OPT_STRING('t', "tool", &difftool_cmd, N_("tool"),
 			   N_("use the specified diff tool")),
 		OPT_BOOL(0, "tool-help", &tool_help,
 			 N_("print a list of diff tools that may be used with "
@@ -711,7 +711,7 @@ int cmd_difftool(int argc, const char **argv, const char *prefix)
 		OPT_BOOL(0, "trust-exit-code", &trust_exit_code,
 			 N_("make 'git-difftool' exit when an invoked diff "
 			    "tool returns a non - zero exit code")),
-		OPT_STRING('x', "extcmd", &extcmd, N_("<command>"),
+		OPT_STRING('x', "extcmd", &extcmd, N_("command"),
 			   N_("specify a custom command for viewing diffs")),
 		OPT_END()
 	};
diff --git a/builtin/pack-objects.c b/builtin/pack-objects.c
index 80c880e9ad..c0741baa8b 100644
--- a/builtin/pack-objects.c
+++ b/builtin/pack-objects.c
@@ -3135,7 +3135,7 @@ int cmd_pack_objects(int argc, const char **argv, const char *prefix)
 		OPT_BOOL(0, "all-progress-implied",
 			 &all_progress_implied,
 			 N_("similar to --all-progress when progress meter is shown")),
-		{ OPTION_CALLBACK, 0, "index-version", NULL, N_("version[,offset]"),
+		{ OPTION_CALLBACK, 0, "index-version", NULL, N_("<version>[,<offset>]"),
 		  N_("write the pack index file in the specified idx format version"),
 		  0, option_parse_index_version },
 		OPT_MAGNITUDE(0, "max-pack-size", &pack_size_limit,
diff --git a/builtin/push.c b/builtin/push.c
index 9cd8e8cd56..ef4c188895 100644
--- a/builtin/push.c
+++ b/builtin/push.c
@@ -558,9 +558,9 @@ int cmd_push(int argc, const char **argv, const char *prefix)
 		OPT_BIT( 0,  "porcelain", &flags, N_("machine-readable output"), TRANSPORT_PUSH_PORCELAIN),
 		OPT_BIT('f', "force", &flags, N_("force updates"), TRANSPORT_PUSH_FORCE),
 		{ OPTION_CALLBACK,
-		  0, CAS_OPT_NAME, &cas, N_("refname>:<expect"),
+		  0, CAS_OPT_NAME, &cas, N_("<refname>:<expect>"),
 		  N_("require old value of ref to be at this value"),
-		  PARSE_OPT_OPTARG, parseopt_push_cas_option },
+		  PARSE_OPT_OPTARG | PARSE_OPT_LITERAL_ARGHELP, parseopt_push_cas_option },
 		{ OPTION_CALLBACK, 0, "recurse-submodules", &recurse_submodules, "check|on-demand|no",
 			N_("control recursive pushing of submodules"),
 			PARSE_OPT_OPTARG, option_parse_recurse_submodules },
diff --git a/builtin/read-tree.c b/builtin/read-tree.c
index ebc43eb805..fbbc98e516 100644
--- a/builtin/read-tree.c
+++ b/builtin/read-tree.c
@@ -133,7 +133,7 @@ int cmd_read_tree(int argc, const char **argv, const char *unused_prefix)
 			 N_("same as -m, but discard unmerged entries")),
 		{ OPTION_STRING, 0, "prefix", &opts.prefix, N_("<subdirectory>/"),
 		  N_("read the tree into the index under <subdirectory>/"),
-		  PARSE_OPT_NONEG | PARSE_OPT_LITERAL_ARGHELP },
+		  PARSE_OPT_NONEG },
 		OPT_BOOL('u', NULL, &opts.update,
 			 N_("update working tree with merge result")),
 		{ OPTION_CALLBACK, 0, "exclude-per-directory", &opts,
diff --git a/builtin/send-pack.c b/builtin/send-pack.c
index 42fd8d1a35..724b484850 100644
--- a/builtin/send-pack.c
+++ b/builtin/send-pack.c
@@ -178,7 +178,7 @@ int cmd_send_pack(int argc, const char **argv, const char *prefix)
 		OPT_BOOL(0, "stdin", &from_stdin, N_("read refs from stdin")),
 		OPT_BOOL(0, "helper-status", &helper_status, N_("print status from remote helper")),
 		{ OPTION_CALLBACK,
-		  0, CAS_OPT_NAME, &cas, N_("refname>:<expect"),
+		  0, CAS_OPT_NAME, &cas, N_("<refname>:<expect>"),
 		  N_("require old value of ref to be at this value"),
 		  PARSE_OPT_OPTARG, parseopt_push_cas_option },
 		OPT_END()
diff --git a/builtin/shortlog.c b/builtin/shortlog.c
index 608d6ba77b..3898a2c9c4 100644
--- a/builtin/shortlog.c
+++ b/builtin/shortlog.c
@@ -268,8 +268,9 @@ int cmd_shortlog(int argc, const char **argv, const char *prefix)
 			 N_("Suppress commit descriptions, only provides commit count")),
 		OPT_BOOL('e', "email", &log.email,
 			 N_("Show the email address of each author")),
-		{ OPTION_CALLBACK, 'w', NULL, &log, N_("w[,i1[,i2]]"),
-			N_("Linewrap output"), PARSE_OPT_OPTARG, &parse_wrap_args },
+		{ OPTION_CALLBACK, 'w', NULL, &log, N_("<w>[,<i1>[,<i2>]]"),
+			N_("Linewrap output"), PARSE_OPT_OPTARG,
+			&parse_wrap_args },
 		OPT_END(),
 	};
 
diff --git a/builtin/show-branch.c b/builtin/show-branch.c
index 4b9d3c0059..363cf8509a 100644
--- a/builtin/show-branch.c
+++ b/builtin/show-branch.c
@@ -674,7 +674,7 @@ int cmd_show_branch(int ac, const char **av, const char *prefix)
 		{ OPTION_CALLBACK, 'g', "reflog", &reflog_base, N_("<n>[,<base>]"),
 			    N_("show <n> most recent ref-log entries starting at "
 			       "base"),
-			    PARSE_OPT_OPTARG | PARSE_OPT_LITERAL_ARGHELP,
+			    PARSE_OPT_OPTARG,
 			    parse_reflog_param },
 		OPT_END()
 	};
diff --git a/builtin/update-index.c b/builtin/update-index.c
index f5c0b6a1d2..5aee2eaa66 100644
--- a/builtin/update-index.c
+++ b/builtin/update-index.c
@@ -969,9 +969,9 @@ int cmd_update_index(int argc, const char **argv, const char *prefix)
 			PARSE_OPT_NOARG | /* disallow --cacheinfo=<mode> form */
 			PARSE_OPT_NONEG | PARSE_OPT_LITERAL_ARGHELP,
 			(parse_opt_cb *) cacheinfo_callback},
-		{OPTION_CALLBACK, 0, "chmod", &set_executable_bit, N_("(+/-)x"),
+		{OPTION_CALLBACK, 0, "chmod", &set_executable_bit, "(+|-)x",
 			N_("override the executable bit of the listed files"),
-			PARSE_OPT_NONEG | PARSE_OPT_LITERAL_ARGHELP,
+			PARSE_OPT_NONEG,
 			chmod_callback},
 		{OPTION_SET_INT, 0, "assume-unchanged", &mark_valid_only, NULL,
 			N_("mark files as \"not changing\""),
diff --git a/builtin/write-tree.c b/builtin/write-tree.c
index c9d3c544e7..cdcbf8264e 100644
--- a/builtin/write-tree.c
+++ b/builtin/write-tree.c
@@ -24,9 +24,8 @@ int cmd_write_tree(int argc, const char **argv, const char *unused_prefix)
 	struct option write_tree_options[] = {
 		OPT_BIT(0, "missing-ok", &flags, N_("allow missing objects"),
 			WRITE_TREE_MISSING_OK),
-		{ OPTION_STRING, 0, "prefix", &prefix, N_("<prefix>/"),
-		  N_("write tree object for a subdirectory <prefix>") ,
-		  PARSE_OPT_LITERAL_ARGHELP },
+		OPT_STRING(0, "prefix", &prefix, N_("<prefix>/"),
+			   N_("write tree object for a subdirectory <prefix>")),
 		{ OPTION_BIT, 0, "ignore-cache-tree", &flags, NULL,
 		  N_("only useful for debugging"),
 		  PARSE_OPT_HIDDEN | PARSE_OPT_NOARG, NULL,
diff --git a/parse-options.c b/parse-options.c
index 7db84227ab..3b874a83a0 100644
--- a/parse-options.c
+++ b/parse-options.c
@@ -660,7 +660,8 @@ int parse_options(int argc, const char **argv, const char *prefix,
 static int usage_argh(const struct option *opts, FILE *outfile)
 {
 	const char *s;
-	int literal = (opts->flags & PARSE_OPT_LITERAL_ARGHELP) || !opts->argh;
+	int literal = (opts->flags & PARSE_OPT_LITERAL_ARGHELP) ||
+		!opts->argh || !!strpbrk(opts->argh, "()<>[]|");
 	if (opts->flags & PARSE_OPT_OPTARG)
 		if (opts->long_name)
 			s = literal ? "[=%s]" : "[=<%s>]";