diff --git a/tools/perf/builtin-annotate.c b/tools/perf/builtin-annotate.c
index 80c5aa0bb42e..0e23fe98ec4e 100644
--- a/tools/perf/builtin-annotate.c
+++ b/tools/perf/builtin-annotate.c
@@ -1300,7 +1300,7 @@ static const char * const annotate_usage[] = {
 static const struct option options[] = {
 	OPT_STRING('i', "input", &input_name, "file",
 		    "input file name"),
-	OPT_STRING('s', "symbol", &sym_hist_filter, "file",
+	OPT_STRING('s', "symbol", &sym_hist_filter, "symbol",
 		    "symbol to annotate"),
 	OPT_BOOLEAN('v', "verbose", &verbose,
 		    "be more verbose (show symbol address, etc)"),