diff --git a/src/main/kotlin/com/xenomachina/argparser/ArgParser.kt b/src/main/kotlin/com/xenomachina/argparser/ArgParser.kt
index 7375cca..ee04290 100644
--- a/src/main/kotlin/com/xenomachina/argparser/ArgParser.kt
+++ b/src/main/kotlin/com/xenomachina/argparser/ArgParser.kt
@@ -615,7 +615,7 @@ class ArgParser(
         if (helpFormatter != null) {
             option<Unit>("-h", "--help",
                     errorName = "HELP", // This should never be used, but we need to say something
-                    help = "show this help message and exit") {
+                    help = helpFormatter.helpMessage) { //now this message is customizable
                 throw ShowHelpException(helpFormatter, delegates.toList())
             }.default(Unit).registerRoot()
         }
diff --git a/src/main/kotlin/com/xenomachina/argparser/DefaultHelpFormatter.kt b/src/main/kotlin/com/xenomachina/argparser/DefaultHelpFormatter.kt
index ea23ef3..bfcae98 100644
--- a/src/main/kotlin/com/xenomachina/argparser/DefaultHelpFormatter.kt
+++ b/src/main/kotlin/com/xenomachina/argparser/DefaultHelpFormatter.kt
@@ -65,6 +65,8 @@ class DefaultHelpFormatter(
     val indent = "  "
     val indentWidth = indent.codePointWidth()
 
+	override value helpMessage = "show this help message and exit"
+
     override fun format(
         programName: String?,
         columns: Int,
diff --git a/src/main/kotlin/com/xenomachina/argparser/HelpFormatter.kt b/src/main/kotlin/com/xenomachina/argparser/HelpFormatter.kt
index 5b13b1d..6c0f429 100644
--- a/src/main/kotlin/com/xenomachina/argparser/HelpFormatter.kt
+++ b/src/main/kotlin/com/xenomachina/argparser/HelpFormatter.kt
@@ -22,6 +22,11 @@ package com.xenomachina.argparser
  * Formats help for an [ArgParser].
  */
 interface HelpFormatter {
+
+	/**
+	 * The help message added automatically with the options -h, --help
+	 */  
+    val helpMessage: String
     /**
      * Formats a help message.
      *